Algeria: Race Against Time to Save Child Ayoub After More Than 48 Hours Trapped in a Well
Amidst solid rocks and a narrow well with a diameter of no more than 40 centimeters, Algerian Civil Protection teams continue their race against time to reach Ayoub, a 10-year-old boy, more than 48 hours after he fell into a well in the province of El Bayadh.
Mohamed Ben Ouda, the Colonel and Director of Civil Protection in El Bayadh, stated that rescue teams are using heavy machinery, along with manual digging when necessary, due to the complex geological nature of the accident site.
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He clarified in a statement to "Sky News Arabia" that drilling operations have exceeded a depth of 15 meters, as part of efforts to create a parallel side tunnel to the well, allowing access to the child and his extraction.
He noted that solid rocks and the nature of the soil are hindering the progress of drilling machinery, after initial expectations were that the equipment would be able to reach the child more quickly.
He added that rescue teams had reached a depth parallel to the well’s location, before some of their members entered to continue horizontal manual digging, hoping to reach the spot where the child is believed to be trapped.
Rescue efforts continue amid intense anticipation, with Algerians’ eyes fixed on the accident site in El Bayadh, awaiting any developments regarding Ayoub’s fate.
The incident began when the child was walking over a dry well, traditionally dug within a family farm and covered by a thin wooden plank, before the plank suddenly broke under his weight and he fell inside.
The well is approximately 80 meters deep, with a diameter not exceeding 40 centimeters. It is not equipped with an outer casing pipe and is partially filled with soil up to a depth of 30 meters, further complicating the rescue operation.
The incident has drawn widespread attention on social media, with the most impactful detail being the account relayed by Ayoub’s father regarding the first moments after his son’s fall.
After the child disappeared from view, family members attempted to search for him, before his father went to the well site and called out to him by name three times.
According to the father’s account, as reported by local media, Ayoub was crying and asking his father for help and to pull him out of the well.
From that moment on, every minute turned into a race against time, as rescue workers began their efforts to reach him.
Videos recorded by followers and citizens have shown the continuous rescue efforts and the operation of bulldozers attempting to widen the excavation at the well in an effort to extract Ayoub, while many Algerians remain waiting at the well site.
