Tragic end for bid to save 5-year-old Rayan, trapped 30 meters down well in Morocco

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Rescuers work to reach a five-year-old boy trapped in a well in the northern hill town of Chefchaouen, Morocco on Feb. 5, 2022. (Reuters)
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Rescuers stand near the whole of a well into which a five-year-old boy fell in the northern hill town of Chefchaouen, Morocco on Feb. 5, 2022. (Reuters)
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A general view shows the site where rescuers are working to reach a five-year-old boy trapped in a well in the northern hill town of Chefchaouen, Morocco on Feb. 5, 2022. (Reuters)
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Rescuers stand near the hole of a well into which a five-year-old boy fell in the northern hill town of Chefchaouen, Morocco on Feb. 5, 2022. (Reuters)
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A view shows the site where rescuers are working to reach a five-year-old boy trapped in a well in the northern hill town of Chefchaouen, Morocco on Feb. 5, 2022. (SNRT News/Reuters)
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Rescuers work to reach a five-year-old boy trapped in a well in the northern hill town of Chefchaouen, Morocco on Feb. 5, 2022. (Reuters)
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A member of the Moroccan emergency services teams works on the rescue of five-year-old boy Rayan in the remote village of Ighrane in the rural northern province of Chefchaouen on Feb. 5, 2022. (AFP)
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Moroccan emergency services teams work on the rescue of five-year-old boy Rayan in the remote village of Ighrane in the rural northern province of Chefchaouen on Feb. 5, 2022. (AFP)
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A view shows the site where rescuers worked to reach Rayan Awram from the well on Feb. 5, 2022. (Courtesy of SNRT NEWS/REUTERS TV/via REUTERS)
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Rescue workers carry the body of Rayan Awram to an ambulance after he was extracted from the well on Feb. 5, 2022. (REUTERS TV/via REUTERS)
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Updated 06 February 2022
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Tragic end for bid to save 5-year-old Rayan, trapped 30 meters down well in Morocco

  • Rayan Awram was rushed to hospital as soon as he was brought to the surface from a well
  • For days, complex and risky earth-moving operation gripped residents of Morocco and beyond

JEDDAH/LONDON: The race to save a five-year-old boy who fell 32 meters down a well in Morocco ended in tragedy on Saturday when he was found dead.

The Moroccan royal palace confirmed that Rayan, who was trapped in the deep well for four days, has died.

Moroccan King Mohammed VI made a phone call to Khaled Awram and Wassima Khersheesh, Rayan’s parents, to offer his condolences to the family over the boy’s tragic passing, the palace said in a separate statement.

Millions worldwide watching a live video feed from the scene held their breath as rescuers and a medical team emerged from a tunnel carrying Rayan Awram, who had been trapped since Tuesday.




King Mohammed VI made a phone call to Khaled Awram and Wassima Khersheesh, Rayan’s parents, to offer his condolences. (MAP)

The rescue operation was constantly delayed by rocks and imperilled by the threat of landslides.

The boy was wrapped in a yellow blanket after he emerged from a tunnel dug specifically for the rescue, and was immediately taken by ambulance to a helicopter where he was transported to the nearest hospital, shortly before the palace issued the statement confirming his death.

Earlier, the king affirmed that he was closely following the developments and had issued instructions to all concerned authorities to take the necessary measures and to exhaust all efforts to save his life.




Medics and rescuers inspect the body of Rayan Awram after he was extracted from the well on Feb. 5, 2022. (REUTERS/Abdelhak Balhaki)

King Mohammed also expressed his appreciation for the tireless efforts made by the rescue teams, as well as the collective activities and strong support from various Moroccan groups and families during this painful occasion.The boy was pulled out Saturday night by rescuers after a lengthy, delicate and dangerous operation that captivated global attention.

Workers with mechanical diggers had been trying round the clock to rescue the 5-year-old child, Rayan Awram, after he fell into a 32-meter (100-foot) deep well in the hills near Chefchaouen on Tuesday.

“We hope we will not encounter rocks,” lead rescuer Abdelhadi Tamrani told reporters at the site on Saturday afternoon, while there were still several meters left to dig.




Rescuers stand near the hole of a well into which a five-year-old boy fell in the northern hill town of Chefchaouen, Morocco on Feb. 5, 2022. (Reuters)

His parents had been escorted to an ambulance before the boy emerged. His plight had captured worldwide attention.

Online messages of support and concern for the boy poured in from around the world as the rescue efforts dragged through the night.

Rescuers used a rope to send oxygen and water down to the boy as well as a camera to monitor him. By Saturday morning, the head of the rescue committee, Abdelhadi Temrani, said: “It is not possible to determine the child’s condition at all at this time. But we hope to God that the child is alive.”


Tamrani said it was difficult to determine the child’s health condition because a camera that has been dropped down the well showed him lying on his side, but he added “we hope we will rescue him alive.”

The Red Crescent also confirmed that it had been providing oxygen continuously to the little boy since Tuesday evening.




A view shows a well into which a five-year-old boy fell in the northern hill town of Chefchaouen, Morocco on Feb. 5, 2022. (Reuters)

Rescue crews, using bulldozers and front-end loaders, excavated the surrounding red earth down to the level where the boy was trapped and dug horizontally toward him, by hand.

They faced a risk of landslides, and on Saturday had to maneuver around a large rock which blocked their way.

Earlier in the darkness, crews had moved a heavy pipe into position in the area. One rescuer lugged what appeared to be a jackhammer.

A glacial cold had gripped this mountainous and impoverished region of the Rif, which is at an elevation of about 700 meters (2,300 feet).

Thousands of people had gathered and even camped in solidarity around the site in recent days and onlookers applauded to encourage the rescuers, sang religious songs or prayed, chanting in unison “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest).




People gather as rescuers work to reach a five-year-old boy trapped in a well in the northern hill town of Chefchaouen, Morocco Feb. 5, 2022. (Reuters)

The shaft, just 45 centimeters (18 inches) across, was too narrow to reach Rayan, and widening it was deemed too risky — so earth-movers dug a wide slope into the hill to reach him from the side.

The operation has made the landscape resemble a construction site. It involves engineers and topographers, and was made more complex by the mix of rocky and sandy soils.

“I keep up hope that my child will get out of the well alive,” Rayan’s father told public television 2M on Friday evening. “I thank everyone involved and those supporting us in Morocco and elsewhere.”

He said earlier in the week that he had been repairing the well when the boy fell in.




A view shows the site where rescuers are working to reach a five-year-old boy trapped in a well in the northern hill town of Chefchaouen, Morocco on Feb. 5, 2022. (SNRT News/Reuters)

The drama has sparked an outpouring of sympathy online, with the trending Arabic hashtag #SaveRayan.

“Millions of people across the world are holding their breath in the race against time to save Rayan,” one Twitter user wrote.

Another paid tribute to rescue workers working around the clock for days, saying, “they are real-life heroes.”

A male relative of the boy told Reuters TV that the family had first realized he was missing when they heard muffled crying and lowered a phone with its light and camera on to locate him.

“He was crying ‘lift me up’,” the relative said.

(With Reuters and AFP)


Israeli strikes batter Lebanon, killing five medics

Updated 2 sec ago
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Israeli strikes batter Lebanon, killing five medics

Israel has pushed on with its intense military campaign against Hezbollah, tempering hopes that efforts by a US envoy could lead to an imminent ceasefire
Hezbollah said it had fired rockets at Israeli troops east of Khiyam at least four times on Friday

BEIRUT: Israeli strikes battered southern Lebanon and the outskirts of the capital Beirut on Friday, killing at least five medics, as ground troops clashed with Hezbollah fighters in the south.
Israel has pushed on with its intense military campaign against the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah, tempering hopes that efforts by a US envoy could lead to an imminent ceasefire.
US mediator Amos Hochstein said earlier this week in Beirut that a truce was “within our grasp.” He traveled on to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz before returning to Washington, according to the news outlet Axios.
His trip aimed to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah along Lebanon’s southern border, which escalated dramatically when Israel ramped up its strikes in late September and sent ground troops into Lebanon on Oct. 1.
Israeli troops have fought Hezbollah in a strip of towns all along the border and this week pushed deeper to the edges of Khiyam, a town some six km (four miles) from the border. Hezbollah said it had fired rockets at Israeli troops east of Khiyam at least four times on Friday.
Lebanese security sources told Reuters that Israeli troops had also advanced in a string of villages to the west as well. They said Israel was most likely trying to isolate Khiyam ahead of a major attack on the town.
Israeli strikes on two other villages in southern Lebanon killed a total of five medics from a rescue force affiliated with Hezbollah, the Lebanese health ministry said.
The more than 3,500 people killed by Israeli strikes over the last year include more than 200 medics, the health ministry said.
Israel says its aim is to secure the return home of tens of thousands of people evacuated from Israel’s north due to rocket attacks by Hezbollah, which began firing across the border in support of Hamas at the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
Israel also mounted more strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, a once densely populated stronghold of Hezbollah.
It issued evacuation orders on the social media platform X for several buildings in the area on Friday. Reuters footage showed one of the strikes appearing to pierce the center of a multi-story building, sending the whole structure toppling in a massive cloud of smoke.

UN reports heavy clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah in south Lebanon

Updated 10 min 25 sec ago
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UN reports heavy clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah in south Lebanon

  • “We are aware of heavy shelling in the vicinity of our bases,” UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti said
  • Asked if the peacekeepers and staff at the headquarters are safe, Tenenti said: “Yes for the moment”

BEIRUT: Israeli troops fought fierce battles with Hezbollah fighters on Friday in different areas in south Lebanon, including a coastal town that is home to the headquarters of UN peacekeepers.
A spokesman for the UN peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL told The Associated Press that they are monitoring “heavy clashes” in the coastal town of Naqoura and the village of Chamaa to the northeast.
UNIFIL’s headquarters are located in Naqoura in Lebanon’s southern edge close to the border with Israel.
“We are aware of heavy shelling in the vicinity of our bases,” UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti said. Asked if the peacekeepers and staff at the headquarters are safe, Tenenti said: “Yes for the moment.”
Several UNIFIL posts have been hit since Israel began its ground invasion of Lebanon on Oct. 1, leaving a number of peacekeepers wounded.
The fighting came a day after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and a Hamas military leader, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity over their 13-month war in Gaza and the October 2023 attack on Israel respectively.
The warrant marked the first time that a sitting leader of a major Western ally has been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity by a global court of justice.
Israel’s war has caused heavy destruction across Gaza, decimated parts of the territory and driven almost the entire population of 2.3 million people from their homes, leaving most dependent on aid to survive.
Israel launched its war in Gaza after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel has also launched airstrikes against Lebanon after the Hezbollah militant group began firing rockets, drones and missiles into Israel the day after Hamas’ attack last October. A full-blown war erupted in September after nearly a year of lower-level conflict.


Gaza ministry: hospitals to cut or stop services ‘within 48 hours’ over fuel shortages

Updated 3 min 33 sec ago
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Gaza ministry: hospitals to cut or stop services ‘within 48 hours’ over fuel shortages

  • All hospitals in Gaza would have to stop or reduce services “within 48 hours“

GAZA: The Hamas government’s health ministry warned Friday all hospitals in Gaza would have to stop or reduce services “within 48 hours” for lack of fuel, blaming Israel for blocking its entry.
“We raise an urgent warning as all hospitals in Gaza Strip will stop working or reduce their services within 48 hours due to the occupation’s (Israel’s) obstruction of fuel entry,” Marwan Al-Hams, director of Gaza’s field hospitals, said during a press conference.


Israel says to end ‘administrative detention’ for West Bank settlers

Updated 22 November 2024
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Israel says to end ‘administrative detention’ for West Bank settlers

  • Practice allows for detainees to be held for long periods without being charged or appear in court
  • The Palestinian Prisoners Club advocacy group said in August that 3,432 Palestinians were held in administrative detention

JERUSALEM: Israeli authorities will stop holding Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank under administrative detention, or incarceration without trial, the defense ministry announced Friday.
The practice allows for detainees to be held for long periods without being charged or appear in court, and is often used against Palestinians who Israel deems security threats.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said it was “inappropriate” for Israel to employ administrative detention against settlers who “face severe Palestinian terror threats and unjustified international sanctions.”
But, according to settlement watchdog Peace Now, it is one of only few effective tools that Israeli authorities to prevent settler attacks against Palestinians, which have surged in the West Bank over the past year.
Katz said in a statement issued by his office that prosecution or “other preventive measures” would be used to deal with criminal acts in the West Bank.
B’Tselem, an Israeli rights group, said authorities use administrative detention “extensively and routinely” to hold thousands of Palestinians for lengthy periods of time.
The Palestinian Prisoners Club advocacy group said in August that 3,432 Palestinians were held in administrative detention.
Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Friday that eight settlers were held under the same practice in November.
Yonatan Mizrahi, director of settlement watch for Peace Now, said that although administrative detention was mostly used in the West Bank to detain Palestinians, it was one of the few effective tools for temporarily removing the threat of settler violence through detention.
“The cancelation of administrative detention orders for settlers alone is a cynical... move that whitewashes and normalizes escalating Jewish terrorism under the cover of war,” the group said in a statement, referring to a spike in settler attacks throughout the Israel-Hamas conflict over the past 13 months.
Western governments, including Israel’s ally and military backer the United States, have recently imposed sanctions on Israeli settlers and settler organizations over ties to violence against Palestinians.
On Monday, US authorities announced sanctions against Amana, a movement that backs settlement development, and others who have “ties to violent actors in the West Bank.”
“Amana is a key part of the Israeli extremist settlement movement and maintains ties to various persons previously sanctioned by the US government and its partners for perpetrating violence in the West Bank,” the US Treasury said.
Excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, the West Bank — which Israel has occupied since 1967 — is home to three million Palestinians as well as about 490,000 Israelis living in settlements that are illegal under international law.


UK would arrest Netanyahu over ICC warrant: Senior politician 

Updated 22 November 2024
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UK would arrest Netanyahu over ICC warrant: Senior politician 

  • Emily Thornberry: Britain has ‘obligation under Rome Convention’ to arrest Israeli PM if he enters country 
  • Court: ‘Reasonable grounds to believe’ Netanyahu responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity in Gaza

LONDON: The UK will arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he enters the country, a senior British politician has said.

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu on Thursday for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, alongside his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, pertaining to the Gaza war.

Emily Thornberry — Labour chair of the foreign affairs committee, and former shadow foreign secretary and shadow attorney general — told Sky News: “If Netanyahu comes to Britain, our obligation under the Rome Convention would be to arrest him under the warrant from the ICC.

“(It is) not really a question of should — we are required to, because we are members of the ICC.”

UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has refused to be drawn on whether Netanyahu would be arrested if he set foot on British soil, saying it “wouldn’t be appropriate for me to comment.”

She told Sky: “We’ve always respected the importance of international law, but in the majority of the cases that they pursue, they don’t become part of the British legal process.

“What I can say is that obviously, the UK government’s position remains that we believe the focus should be on getting a ceasefire in Gaza.”

Netanyahu’s arrest warrant is the first to be issued against the premier of a major Western ally by an international court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

His office denounced the warrant as “anti-Semitic,” adding that Israel “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions.” Israel is not an ICC member and rejects the court’s jurisdiction.

US President Joe Biden called the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant “outrageous,” adding: “Whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas.”

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he plans to invite Netanyahu to visit Budapest, adding that the arrest warrant will “not be observed” by his government.

The Italian and French governments, however, have indicated that Netanyahu will be arrested if he visits either country.

The ICC said on Thursday it has “reasonable grounds to believe” that Netanyahu and Gallant “bear criminal responsibility” for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.”

The court also issued a warrant for Hamas commander Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Israel says Al-Masri, believed to have been the mastermind behind the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023, was killed in Gaza earlier this year.

The ICC said it issued the warrant for his arrest because of insufficient evidence to prove his death.