Rayan: Hundreds attend funeral for little boy in Morocco

Hundreds of mourners gathered on Monday for the funeral of Rayan Aourram, the Moroccan boy who became trapped in a well and died despite an intense rescue operation that lasted for five days.

Those wishing to pay their final respects to Rayan climbed the hilly, unpaved road leading to the cemetery in Ighran, near Chefchaouen in northern Morocco, where they waited for hours for the funeral.

State media footage showed dozens of mourners performing the Muslim ritual prayers as Rayan was laid to rest. His coffin was draped in green cloth decorated with verses from the Quran.

“I am over 50 years old and have never seen as many people in a funeral. Rayan is the son of us all,” one villager told Reuters.

“Rayan's death has renewed faith in humanity as people in different languages and from different countries express solidarity,” another villager said.

Local media reported that some of those in attendance had walked up to eight kilometres to reach the cemetery, after the authorities were forced to prevent cars from entering the area due to limited space.

Two large tents were erected in front of the grieving family's house where mourners could stop to offer their condolences.

The grieving parents were seen disembarking from a military ambulance, which carried the coffin to the burial ground.

Rayan fell down a narrow, 32-metre dry well last Tuesday, leading to a complex earth-moving operation to try to reach him without causing a landslide.

Rescuers had worked ceaselessly at constant risk of triggering a landslide in their ultimately fruitless efforts to pull the child out alive.

“I am very sad. We spared no effort to reach the boy alive. We excavated around the clock in five days what could have taken weeks,” a volunteer digger, Ali Sahraoui, told reporters at the funeral.

The prolonged rescue effort transfixed the country and many abroad.

The well, which was less than half a metre wide, was too narrow for Rayan to be reached directly, and widening the shaft was deemed too risky.

The joy of freeing Rayan from the well on Saturday evening and the hopes that he would be extracted alive quickly turned to sorrow as he was pronounced dead, sparking an outpouring of grief in Morocco and on social media.

On Saturday, condolences to the parents came from Morocco's King Mohammed VI, Pope Francis, French President Emmanuel Macron and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai.

Egyptian and Senegalese football players held a minute of silence on Sunday before the kickoff of the African Cup of Nations final.

On Twitter, users left messages of condolences for the boy’s parents, using the hashtag #SaveRayan. They said his death has unified the world in hope and in grief and showed the best of humanity.

Villagers' generosity

Rayan’s village, in Morocco's rural Rif Mountains, has been in the spotlight over the course of the incident and his death has brought renewed attention to the problem of unlicensed uncovered wells in the region.

The Rif Mountains in northern Morocco extend from Tangier to the Moulouya River valley near the border with Algeria. What little infrastructure there is in the area is in poor condition.

The Arabic daily newspaper Assabah criticised the digging of unauthorised wells, saying many were used to irrigate cannabis widely grown in Morocco's north.

Locals mainly depend on mules and donkeys to transport basic supplies and water across long distances.

Residents of Ighran hosted journalists who had come to the area to cover rescue efforts and cooked food for rescue workers, who continued their digging operations around the clock despite freezing conditions.

“I was deeply moved by the residents’ generosity though they live in poverty,” Moroccan journalist Hamza Al Wahhabi told Hespress.

“They provided us with a supply of electricity to charge our phones and laptops. We are really grateful.”

Agencies contributed to this report

Rescue effort for Rayan in Morocco — in pictures