Saudi secures 2,450 wells after Moroccan boy’s death

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Moroccan emergency services teams work on the rescue of five-year-old boy Rayan from a well shaft he fell into on February 1, in the remote village of Ighrane in the rural northern province of Chefchaouen on February 4, 2022. – Moroccan rescuers were in the nerve-wracking final stages of a marathon effort to rescue Rayan, a five-year-old boy trapped down a well for a fourth night. (Photo by Fadel SENNA / AFP)

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) – Saudi Arabia has said it filled and fortified thousands of abandoned wells across the country, after the tragic death of a boy in Morocco following failed rescue efforts.

Five-year-old Rayan, who spent five days trapped down a well, was laid to rest on Monday in his village of Ighrane in Morocco’s Rif mountains.

Moroccans burry five-year-old Rayan Oram in the village of Ighrane in Morocco’s rural northern province of Chefchaouen, on February 7, 2022. – Moroccans today attended the funeral of the boy who spent five days trapped down a well, sparking a vast rescue operation that gripped the world but ended in tragedy. (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP)

Following last week’s tragic incident, Saudi Arabia’s ministry of environment, water and agriculture said on Sunday: “To ensure everyone’s safety… the ministry was able to fill in and fortify 2,450 abandoned wells.

“It continues to work to fill in the rest of the exposed wells,” it said.

The ministry also called on residents to report any unsafe or uncovered wells, saying: “Your reports will protect you and others.”

Rayan fell down a narrow, 32-metre (100-foot) dry well last Tuesday, sparking a complex earth-moving operation to try to extract him without triggering a landslide.

But the rescue operation ended in tragedy on Saturday, with Morocco’s royal palace announcing his death.

The father of five-year-old Rayan Oram receives condolences during the funeral of his son in the village of Ighrane in Morocco’s rural northern province of Chefchaouen, on February 7, 2022. – Moroccans today attended the funeral of the boy who spent five days trapped down a well, sparking a vast rescue operation that gripped the world but ended in tragedy. (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP)

On Monday, hundreds stood to mourn in a cemetery in the remote forested hills of the Chefchaouen region of Morocco, a few kilometres from the site of the accident.

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI called the parents to voice his condolences.

© Agence France-Presse