Morocco bids farewell to the child Rayan, who was pulled dead from a well in which he was stuck for five days in a tragedy that shook the world, leaving great shock and grief. His funeral is expected to take place in the village of Igran, which was the scene of the accident in the north of the Kingdom.
The funeral is expected to take place on Monday, according to what the agency “AFP” quoted a relative of the family and parliamentarian from Chefchaouen Abdel Rahim Bouazza.
The child’s body was taken to the military hospital in Rabat, according to one of his relatives, but it was not officially known whether he underwent a medical autopsy.
After the tragedy of five-year-old Rayan held his breath in high anticipation during the days that took a complex process to reach him, his recovery left a wave of sadness and sorrow in Morocco and the world.
In two brief statements to the media, his parents were keen to thank everyone who stood by them, sympathizing with themselves, “Praise be to God, this is our destiny,” according to AFP.
Since Rayan fell into the well, “they have not been able to eat anything under the shock of the shock,” according to what their relative, Hisham Agaouk, told AFP.
On Sunday, he added, “There was a terrible silence in the village this morning (…) I eagerly waited to get him out, and everyone was praying for him.”
In turn, the family’s neighbor, Munir Adbib, said, “I might not sleep for five days. I have a son of Rayan’s age. Every time I see him, I remember him (…) and every time I try to close my eyes, I see a picture of him stuck in a well. I am very sad.”
Meanwhile, the authorities began work on Sunday to fill the well in which the child accidentally fell, as well as the tunnel, whose construction required a strenuous effort to reach it, according to AFP correspondents.
The website of the first Moroccan TV channel summarized, “The world is crying, Rayan (…) the fall of a child reminded millions of humanity.”
A Moroccan commentator on Facebook described him as a child who “blew up feelings of affection and sympathy between peoples.”
In the Vatican, Pope Francis, in his homily, saluted “all the (Moroccan) people who worked so hard to save Rayan.”
Messages of solidarity and sympathy were also issued from Israeli Presidents Isaac Herzog and French Emmanuel Macron, as well as bloggers, famous sportsmen and artists.
In an indication of the great affected by this tragedy, the announcement of the death of the child was issued by the Royal Court on Saturday evening.
The court said in a statement that Moroccan King Mohammed VI offered his condolences to the parents of the child Rayan in a phone call “following the tragic accident that claimed his life.”
On Tuesday, Rayan accidentally fell into a dry well, 32 meters high and narrow, the bottom of which is difficult to reach, dug near the family’s home.
Ambulance teams entered from a horizontal gap on Saturday followingnoon, which took centimeter by centimeter, and its personnel dug with their hands to avoid any landslide.
“It was a risky adventure, but I still hoped to find him alive,” said Ali Sahraoui, who participated in the excavation.
Rescue teams also sent oxygen and water through tubes and bottles to Ryan without making sure he might use it.
Thousands of sympathizers rushed to the site to express their solidarity, and they stayed for days in this mountainous sector of the Rif, at an altitude of regarding 700 meters.
