Rabat -
“I have been sleeping dry since Tuesday, when I closed my eyes, I was bombarded with thoughts and fantasies about the incident,” Moroccan Nusseiba Al-Kahlon tells Al Jazeera Net, as she tells her impact on the story of the child Rayan, who fell on Tuesday afternoon in a narrow and deep well in a village on the outskirts of Chefchaouen (northern Morocco). .
Nusseibeh did not stop following the details of the accident, moment by moment, through her acquaintances present in the place, and also through the national media stationed in the village of Agran since the first day of Wednesday.
She stops for a moment and says, "I am a mother and I understand the connection of children to their mothers. Every moment I imagine the condition of the child at the bottom of the well suffering from fear, cold, hunger and longing for his mother's lap, so I feel a state of grief and helplessness."
Not only did Nusseibeh and her family follow the news and make efforts to retrieve the child, but her brother rushed to transfer a 15-year-old child from the city of Al-Madiq to the village in order to volunteer to enter the well, and to retrieve Rayan, but despite the approval of his parents, the authorities rejected the idea.
Nusseibeh's case is the same as the millions of Moroccans who follow the efforts to save the child Rayan, which has been going on since he fell Tuesday into a hole dug by the family in search of water.
Everywhere
In buses, trains, cafes, homes and streets, there is no talk of citizens except about this tragedy that young and old interacted with, and it became the main news for all websites and newsletters, and became a topic followed by international media.
The "Save the Child Ryan" hashtag continues to lead on social media, and Moroccans and Arabs have interacted with it, spreading a campaign of solidarity with the child and his family and encouraging rescue efforts.
Celebrities interacted with this incident, including the star of the Algerian national team, Riyad Mahrez, the former coach of the Moroccan national team, Herve Renard, the star of the Moroccan national team, Ashraf Hakimi, the Emirati singer Ahlam, the former Moroccan Prime Minister Saad Eddine El Othmani, the former advisor to the Egyptian Minister of Endowments Mohamed Al-Saghir, and the Algerian novelist. Ahlam Mosteghanemi and many others, as they prayed to God Almighty to end the suffering of this child and return him to his family safely.
And everyone's minds are still tight for 3 days towards the mountain village of Agran on the outskirts of Chefchaouen, this remote and unknown village located in the middle of rugged terrain in the Rif mountain range, whose existence no one knew until its land swallowed an innocent child and he has been in its hollow for days.
While most Moroccans browse communication sites, websites and news appointments on government channels to follow developments, some of them preferred to go to the village themselves to follow up on rescue efforts on the ground, to provide support to the family and encourage rescuers.
Hamza Al-Wahhabi, director of the "Shamali" website, which monitors rescue work in the field, says that the authorities have worked since Thursday to organize the delegations that came to the place, and prevented approaching the site of the accident at a distance of 50 meters, noting that despite the difficult terrain and roads, the number of citizens who flocked To the village was enormous.
The excavation work reached a sensitive stage as rescue teams approached the whereabouts of the child Ryan at a depth of 31 meters (French)
digging works
Efforts to rescue the child Ryan have reached their final stages, and officials expect the excavation work to end today.
Hamza Al-Wahhabi explained - to Al-Jazeera Net - that the bulldozers stopped drilling vertically at noon today, Friday, after reaching a depth of 31 meters, and will begin horizontal drilling to lay huge sewage pipes, relying on experts in digging mines, topographic survey engineers, technicians and civil defense specialists.
He added that this stage - according to the authorities - is the most dangerous and accurate, and its success will enable the rescue personnel to reach the child and retrieve him from the bottom of the well.
He pointed out that an official in the rescue committee confirmed to reporters that the child Ryan was still breathing, and that the authorities monitored him through the camera and were providing him with oxygen regularly.
A member of the tracking committee, Save the Child Rayan, told reporters, according to the official Moroccan News Agency, that the vertical excavation works are accompanied by the stabilization of the sides, to prevent soil erosion in the excavation area, which is characterized by the fragility of the soil and the difficulty of the terrain, and to follow the rescue steps according to the plan that he developed. Experts at the scene of the accident.
According to the clarifications of one of the cartographers from the spot.. Here is an illustration showing the position of the child Rayan inside the well.# Child_Rayan #Chefchaouen #Morocco #Save_Rayan pic.twitter.com/LrrEuVEFUW
— Hespress Hespress (@hespress) February 3, 2022
3 days
Five-year-old Ryan fell into a narrow well next to his house on Tuesday afternoon, and after his disappearance, his family rushed to search for him to find the well without the cover and small footprints next to it.
Rescue efforts began on Tuesday by traditional means, and volunteers from the village tried to go down to the well to get the child out, but their efforts were unsuccessful due to the narrow diameter of the surface of the well, and this necessitated expanding the scope of intervention.
The authorities in the Chefchaouen region began to develop rescue scenarios, following the follow-up of the Ministers of Interior and Health, since the first morning of Wednesday.
The rescue committee adopted - according to what the government spokesman said in a press conference on Thursday afternoon - a number of scenarios.
The first scenario includes expanding the diameter of the hole, which is 45 centimeters at the top, and narrows as the incursion progresses towards its bottom. However, the fear of soil collapse and stones falling inside the well prompted the exclusion of this scenario.
The authorities resorted to a second scenario by dropping professional rescuers into the well, and after 3 failed attempts during which the volunteers were unable to descend to the bottom of the hole due to its narrowness, a third scenario was adopted to dig a hole parallel to the well.
Excavation work was halted for short periods due to landslides, and also to allow engineers to take measurements in order to locate suitable sites for drilling.
The excavation work has continued since Wednesday without stopping, day and night, by 6 bulldozers, under the supervision of topographical engineers and technicians.
breakdowns and measurements
Sources told Al Jazeera Net that the excavation work stopped for short periods due to the occurrence of landslides, and also to allow engineers to take measurements in order to determine the appropriate sites for drilling, given the presence of layers that include fragile soil and other rocky layers.
The authorities at the scene enlisted an equipped ambulance and a medical team that includes a resuscitation doctor, anesthesiologist and nurses, as well as an equipped helicopter belonging to the Royal Gendarmerie to transport the child as soon as possible after rescuing him to the hospital, given the rugged terrain of the area.
The government spokesman said, in a press conference yesterday, Thursday, that the delay in rescue efforts is not related to a problem or lack of capabilities, but rather to difficulties related to the terrain and the complexity of the operation.
With the hour of decisiveness approaching and the excavation work reaching its end, Moroccans and the Arab world are awaiting the end of this tragedy, hoping that the child will return safe and sound to the bosom of his small family to be happy with him, and the happiness of the millions who follow what is happening.