Ayoub was recovered lifeless. After four days of uninterrupted operations, the attempt to save the 10-year-old boy who fell into an artesian well in the wilaya of El Bayadh, in western Algeria, ended in the worst possible way. The confirmation arrived today, Saturday 5 September, in the evening, from the Algerian Civil Protection.
Ayoub died in the well in Algeria: what happened
The accident occurred in the village of Er-Rokn, in the municipality of Ghassoul, district of Brezina, in the province of El Bayadh. According to information released directly by the Civil Protection, Ayoub was 10 years old and the well into which he fell was dry, about 80 meters deep and with a diameter of just 40 centimeters. It had been excavated using traditional methods, did not have a casing pipe and its opening was covered by a plywood panel.
It was precisely the failure of that roof that caused the fall. Civil Protection reported that the child fell while passing over the panel. There was also a significant amount of soil in the structure and the well, in addition to being extremely narrow, was not regular: characteristics that prevented rescuers from descending directly along the pipe.
The parallel well and the race against time to reach the child
From the first hours it became clear that it would be necessary to reach Ayoub by another road. The Civil Protection teams then started the excavation of a second parallel well, using heavy vehicles and proceeding at the same time with manual interventions.
Today, in the most advanced phase of the operation, some rescuers had descended into the new excavation to try to get closer to the point where the child was and create a connection to the original well. The work was slowed down by the conformation of the land, the presence of rock layers and the danger of subsidence.
The director general of the Algerian Civil Protection, Boualem Boughlaf, had also arrived on site to directly follow the intervention. The authorities had mobilized specialized teams, technicians and experts and had kept medical resources ready in the hope of being able to immediately assist Ayoub once he reached him.
Even in the hours before recovery it had not been possible to establish with certainty what the child’s condition was. Lieutenant Colonel Nassim Bernawi, head of Civil Protection communications, explained that the chances of survival had become “very slim”. Today, all hopes dissolved when the little boy’s body was found.