Moroccan Child  Trapped in Well for 5 Days Dies

After rescuers took out his body on Saturday, Moroccan state-run media claimed that a Moroccan child stuck in a well for four days did not survive.

The royal palace issued a statement saying that the king of Morocco had called the boy's parents to express his condolences.

On Tuesday afternoon, Rayan, a little kid from the tiny village of Ighrane, approximately 60 miles from Chefchaouen, fell more than 100 feet down a well near his home.

For days, tens of thousands of people across the world maintained vigil for Rayan, offering encouragement to Twitter under the hashtag #SaveRayan as cameras lowered down the well showed flashes of optimism — though bloodied, Rayan looked to be moving —

Rescuers had toiled day and night to free the youngster, first excavating in the well itself and then bulldozing a massive trench beside it down to within a few yards of where he was trapped when they worried the well's walls would collapse on him.

The well narrows as it climbs deeper, according to investigators, and the boy was confined in a small, claustrophobic space with a diameter of less than 20 inches.

On Friday evening, video from the area showed rescuers painstakingly drilling sideways toward Rayan, their labour lit by headlamps, while prayers and cheers erupted from the crowd.

Rain and hard rock obstructing the drilling hindered the process overnight and into Saturday, slowing down the process.

On Saturday morning, one of the rescuers, Abdelhadi Temrani, told reporters that he still had "great hope" that Rayan was alive, but workers later said that judging the boy's condition from the cameras was difficult. According to Mr. Temrani, the camera captured the youngster resting on his side.

Some onlookers had gathered in the area or spent the night sleeping under nearby trees, waiting for the problem to be resolved. Rayan's family prepared and served couscous, a classic Moroccan dish, to the crowd. Bread and dates were distributed by others.

Rayan's father said he was working on his well, which he owns, when Rayan fell in, but he didn't realise where the boy had gone at first.

His mother said the family investigated the area after noticing he was missing, not assuming he had fallen into the well at first.