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Ayoub trapped in Algeria
A 10-year-old boy, Ayoub, fell into a dry artesian well about 80 meters deep in the village of Er Rekn (also written as El Reken/El Roken/Arkan/El Roken), in the commune of El Ghassoul, Brezina district, in El Bayadh province in southwestern Algeria, after walking across a wooden board that collapsed.
“plunging him into an 80-metre-deep well that was only 40 centimetres wide”
Gulf Daily News said the traditionally dug well was only 40 centimetres wide and lacked protective casings, with soil dumped inside reaching a depth of around 30 metres, making a direct descent too dangerous.
Rescue teams from Algeria’s Civil Protection deployed specialist personnel, heavy excavation machinery and well-inspection cameras, and began digging a parallel shaft toward where Ayoub was believed to be trapped before excavating a horizontal tunnel to reach him from the side.
The accident was reported as occurring on Wednesday, September 2, at noon, and TSA said Civil Protection units had been trying for three days to bring him back to the surface.
BBC reported that Algerian social media and platforms buzzed with the news of Ayoub’s fall into the well in the village of Arkan in Naâma Province, as rescue and civil protection teams mobilized in a race against time amid fears of landslides.
Civil Protection strategy and quotes
Gulf News said Ayoub was returning home with lunch for his older brother, who was tending sheep, in the village of Al Rokn, in El Ghassoul municipality, Brezina district, in El Bayadh province, when the plank collapsed beneath him.
Al Jazeera? no—here, Gulf News quoted Civil Protection spokesman Karim Ben Fahsi as saying rescue efforts had been under way since around midday on Wednesday, with bulldozers, drilling equipment, ambulances, rescue vehicles and specialist teams deployed to the scene.
Gulf Daily News described the operational logic for avoiding a direct descent, saying the well’s narrow width and the instability of the surrounding soil made lowering rescuers into the shaft too dangerous.
TSA said the rescue operation involved creating a safety tunnel to reach the child without triggering a collapse, while huge excavators dug near the well.
In a separate account, La Presse de Tunisie said the wali (governor) of El Bayadh, Nourredine Belaâribi, visited the scene accompanied by members of the security commission, and that the operation was still ongoing on Thursday and Friday without any favorable outcome announced in the latest available information.
Rayan memories and what’s at risk
Multiple outlets linked Ayoub’s case to the earlier Rayan tragedy, with Gulf Daily News comparing the Algeria rescue to Rayan, a five-year-old Moroccan boy who fell into a deep well in Chefchaouen province in February 2022 and was trapped around 32 metres below ground.
“Rayan, a five-year-old Moroccan boy who fell into a deep well in Chefchaouen province in February 2022”
Gulf News said Rayan’s rescue involved digging a parallel shaft and then a horizontal tunnel, and that the operation ended with the announcement of his death.
TSA reported that Algerians in the village of Er Rekn followed the rescue minute by minute and hoped the boy could be rescued in time to start school on September 22, like all his classmates.
Tunisie Numerique quoted the father’s account of Ayoub’s appeal from inside the well, saying: "Dad, get me out of here."
Gulf Daily News said rescue teams were still digging through layers of earth and rock as the operation continued, with a medical team on site to provide immediate assistance once rescuers reached Ayoub.