A five-year-old boy who was trapped for four days in a deep well in Morocco has died, the royal palace said Saturday.
in a statement, Moroccan King Mohammed VI expressed his condolences to the parents of the boy, Rayan.
He was pulled out Saturday night by rescuers after a lengthy operation that captivated global attention.
An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw the boy wrapped in a yellow blanket after he was brought out through a tunnel dug specifically for the rescue.
His parents had been escorted to an ambulance before the boy was taken out of the tunnel.
Messages of support from around the world
The palace statement said the king had been closely following the frantic rescue efforts by local authorities, "instructing officials to use all means necessary to dig the boy out of the well and return him alive to his parents."
The king hailed the rescuers for their relentless work and the community for lending support to Rayan's family.
Hundreds of villagers and others had gathered to watch the rescue operation.
Online messages of support and concern for the boy poured in from around the world as the work dragged on for four days.
Rescuers used a rope to send oxygen and water down to the boy, as well as a camera to monitor him.
By Saturday morning, the head of thxjmtzywe rescue committee, Abdelhadi Temrani, said: "It is not possible to determine the child's condition at all at this time. But we hope to God that the child is alive."
Well located outside boy's home
Rayan fell into a 32-metre well located outside his home in the village of Ighran in Morocco's mountainous northern Chefchaouen province on Tuesday evening.
For three days, search crews used bulldozers to dig a parallel ditch. On Friday, they started excavating a horizontal tunnel to reach the trapped boy.
Morocco's MAP news agency said experts in topographical engineering were called upon for help.
The village of about 500 people is dotted with deep wells, many used for irrigating the cannabis crop that is the main source of income for many in the poor, remote and arid region of Morocco's Rif Mountains. Most of the wells have protective covers.
The exact circumstances of how the boy fell in the well are unclear.
Moroccans had taken to social media to offer their hopes for the boy's survival, using the hashtag #SaveRayan, which brought global attention to the rescue efforts.
