Race against time to save terrified Afghan boy, nine, trapped for two days in 33ft-deep well

Rescuers are racing against time to save a terrified nine-year-old Afghan boy who has been trapped 33ft-down a well for two days. 

The boy, named locally as Haidar, is wedged inside the well and rescuers were seen digging down in an attempt to reach the boy in Shokok village, Zabul province, southern Afghanistan.

The operation comes just two weeks after a similar attempt to rescue five-year-old Rayan Awram from a Moroccan well ended in tragedy, with the little boy found dead after being trapped more than 100ft underground for four days.

Video shared on social media – including by officials of Afghanistan’s new Taliban government – showed Haidar wedged in the well, able to move his arms and upper body.    

The boy, named locally as Haidar, is wedged inside the well and rescuers were seen digging down in an attempt to reach the boy in Shokok village, Zabul province, southern Afghanistan

Rescuers were seen digging down in an attempt to reach the boy in Shokok village, Zabul province, southern Afghanistan

‘Are you okay my son?’ his father can be heard saying in the video. ‘Talk with me and don’t cry, we are working to get you out.’

‘Okay, I’ll keep talking,’ the boy replies in a plaintive voice.

The video was obtained by rescuers lowering a camera down the narrow well by rope.

Local officials said the boy appeared trapped about 33ft down the 82ft shaft.

‘A team is there with an ambulance, oxygen and other necessary things,’ tweeted Abdullah Azzam, secretary to Deputy Prime Minister Abdulghani Barada.

Rescuers were digging an open slit trench from an angle at the surface to try to reach the point where the boy is trapped.

Rescuers were digging an open slit trench from an angle at the surface to try to reach the point where the boy is trapped

Local officials said the boy appeared trapped about 33ft down the 82ft shaft. Pictured: A digger at the site of the well as rescuers try to save the nine-year-old boy

It appeared to be similar engineering to what rescuers attempted in Morocco in early February, when Rayan fell into a 105ft (32-metre) well outside his home in Ighran village, in the northern province of Chefchaouen.  

After digging vertically and then horizontally – all while risking a landslide – rescuers and resuscitation experts finally reached the boy after four days, offering a faint glimmer of optimism that he might have survived the ordeal. 

But the anxious wait for news of five-year-old Rayan ended in tragedy for his family, after government officials confirmed the young boy could not be resuscitated, adding that he had died before rescuers could reach him.   

The boy’s body was seen wrapped in a gold blanket after he emerged from a tunnel dug specifically for the rescue operation. 

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI sent his condolences to the Awram family and praised both the rescue crews and local community for their valiant efforts over the past week. Supportive messages were also shared online as the hashtag #SaveRayan trended on Twitter.

Tragic: Little Rayan Awram, aged five, was found dead in early February following a four-day rescue mission to save him after he fell down a well

Dozens nervously watch as Rayan is transferred from the rescue site to an ambulance 

The case of ‘Baby Jessica’ who fell down a well in Texas

Rayan’s ordeal in the well has drawn comparisons to the case of Jessica McClure Morales, famously known as Baby Jessica, who fell into a well in her aunt’s backyard in Midland, Texas, in October 1987 at the age of 18 months.

For 58 hours, rescuers worked to successfully free her from the 22-foot (6.7 metre) deep well.   

As in Rayan’s case, rescuers decided to dig in parallel to the well where Jessica was lodged because, with an 8-inch (20cm) well opening, it was too narrow for them to simply drop down and reach her. They then drilled another horizontal cross-tunnel to reach her – but not without difficulty. 

Rescuers found that the well was surrounded by rock and the local oil drillers and rescuers’ jackhammers could not hit through. 

The horizontal tunnel was eventually created through the use of waterjet cutting, an industrial tool which uses an extremely high-pressure of water and an abrasive substance to cut through rock. 

Jessica was finally rescued when paramedic Robert O’Donnell inched his way into the tunnel and pulled the toddler free from her awkward position pinned inside the well with one leg above her forehead.

When rescuers finally brought her to the surface, she was covered with dirt and bruises, and her right palm was stuck to her face. 

When rescuers finally brought her to the surface, Baby Jessica was covered with dirt and bruises, and her right palm was stuck to her face

Jessica (left after she was pulled out of the shaft) also lost a toe to gangrene because one leg was pinned above her head in the underground shaft

As in Rayan’s case, rescuers decided to dig in parallel to the well where Jessica was lodged because, with an 8-inch (20cm) well opening, it was too narrow for them to simply drop down and reach her. They then drilled another horizontal cross-tunnel to reach her – but not without difficulty

Jessica, now 35, has said in the past that she has little memory of being wedged in the pipe or of the 15 operations that followed her ordeal.

A scar from her hairline to the bridge of her nose is still visible however where her head rubbed against the wall of the well. 

Jessica also lost a toe to gangrene because one leg was pinned above her head in the underground shaft.