Morocco Boy Found Dead At Bottom Of Well In Tragic End To 5-Day Search

Through the days-long operation to extricate little Rayan from the bottom of the 32-metre (100 foot) well shaft, authorities had cautioned that they did not know whether the child was dead or alive.

Moroccan emergency crews found a five-year-old boy dead at the bottom of a well late Saturday in a tragic end to a painstaking five-day rescue operation that gripped the nation and beyond.

"Following the tragic accident which cost the life of the child Rayan Oram, His Majesty King Mohammed VI called the parents of the boy who died after falling down the well," a statement from the royal court said.

Through the days-long operation to extricate little Rayan from the bottom of the 32-metre (100 foot) well shaft, authorities had cautioned that they did not know whether the child was dead or alive.

But news of his death sent a chill through the cold mountain air of his home village of Ighrane in the Rif mountains of northern Morocco where thousands of volunteers and well-wishers had gathered this week in a show of solidarity with his family.