Sharjah24 – AFP: Moroccan rescuers worked through the night into Saturday, the fifth day of an increasingly urgent and nerve-wracking effort to rescue Rayan, a five-year-old boy trapped underground in a well.
The complex, slow and risky earth-moving operation has gripped residents of the North African kingdom and even sparked sympathy in neighbouring Algeria, a regional rival.
Rayan accidentally fell about 32 metres (35 yards) down the tight, empty shaft near his home in the remote village of Ighrane in Chefchaouen province on Tuesday afternoon.
Rescue crews, using bulldozers and front-end loaders, have dug almost all the way down but the final two metres are the most difficult because of the risk of landslides.
There has been no information about the fate of the boy, but the more time that passes, the more fears arise over whether he will be recovered alive.
Overnight, crews manoeuvred a heavy pipe into position in the area.
"We're almost there," said one of the operation's leaders, Abdesalam Makoudi, adding "tiredness is kicking in, but the whole rescue team is hanging on."
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