Effort to rescue 5-year-old Rayan Oram transfixes Morocco, only to end sadly

On Saturday night, workers who had dug a rescue tunnel finally reached Rayan Oram, the boy. But the medical helicopter that had been waiting for days to take him to a hospital had no need to take off. He was dead.

United for days in hope, Moroccans and others in northwest Africa were suddenly united in grief.

“I wanted to believe that miracles still happen,” said Mehdi Idrissi, 32, a doctor in the Moroccan city of Fez who followed the rescue effort for days, doubting that Rayan could survive his ordeal but clinging to optimism. “As a country, we needed a bit of hope, and even though the ending was tragic, it did bring us all together. May he rest in peace.”

For days, there appeared to be reason for hope: On Thursday, a camera that rescuers had lowered into the well appeared to show Rayan moving, if bloodied. Workers were also able to send him oxygen and water.

But by Saturday afternoon, when rescuers had tunneled to within inches of where the boy was stuck, authorities went quiet about his condition. At one point, they said they could not assess his health because he was lying on his side in such a way that it was difficult to see him. Later, they refused to describe what they were seeing at all.

As the hours passed with no official word on Rayan’s status, it became harder to avoid the question of whether he was still alive.

All that was clear was that the diggers were still digging.

Around 9.30 pm, cheers of joy broke out around the well. Rayan was out.

But rescuers huddled tightly around him as they carried him to an ambulance, making it impossible to tell whether he was alive or dead.

Minutes later, word spread: The king of Morocco, Mohammed VI, had called Rayan’s parents, Khaled Oram and Wassima Khersheesh, offering them his condolences.