Rescue efforts draw widespread attention

Efforts to rescue the boy, whom authorities identified only by his first name, Ayoub, had drawn widespread attention across the country, and social media was awash with calls to save him.

On Saturday evening, however, the civil protection announced that "the child was found and recovered dead".

Difficult operation at deep, narrow well

Teams had been working to reach Ayoub after he fell into an 80-metre-deep well near his home in the desert municipality of Brezina in El Bayadh province, some 550 kilometres  south of Algiers.

The civil protection said the well was dry and dug using traditional methods, and was only 40 centimetres in diameter, which made efforts to rescue the boy difficult.

While the operations were still ongoing, rescuers said they had been struggling to reach him because he was "trapped beneath a thick layer of soil".

Images released by authorities and local media showed heavy machinery digging a large pit alongside the well in an attempt to reach the boy.