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According to BBC, Khaled Oram told local North African media that his son had fallen down the dry well at “that one moment I took my eyes off him” and added that he “has not slept a wink” since the ordeal began.
A relative said the family first realised that Rayan was missing when they heard his muffled crying around the well. They finally located him inside the hole in the ground with the help of a phone with its flashlight and camera on.
“He was crying ‘lift me up’,” the relative told Reuters.
AP reported that the village is dotted with many such wells, which are used for irrigating cannabis crop that is a main source of income for the poor, remote region.
Most of the wells have protective covers. The exact circumstances of how the boy fell into the well remain unclear.
Nonetheless, the narrow structure made it impossible for the family to descend directly to save him.
The boy was alive and conscious, but the hilly region is known to be bitterly cold in winter and the extent of his injuries were unknown, with captured images showing dried blood across his face.
Rescuers lowered food, water, and oxygen through a tube to the boy as they figured out how to retrieve him.
However, the mission was hampered by fears of a landslide. Government spokesman Mustapha Baitas said the nature of the soil meant widening the hole was too dangerous, meaning a major excavation beside it was the only solution, reported Al Jazeera.
Then on Friday, 4 February, they started digging a horizontal tunnel manually to reach the trapped boy.
Despite being less than 2m away, the work was slow and difficult because of fears that the soil surrounding the well could collapse on the boy as well as the rescue workers.
As the efforts dragged on, the child’s fate drew an outpour of sympathy and support from all around the world.
Moroccans took to social media to offer hope for the boy’s survival, where the hashtag #SaveRayan trended on Twitter.
Meanwhile, hundreds of villagers also gathered at the scene to wait with bated breath with Rayan’s parents.
According to AFP, the crowds that were singing and chanting with hope were in shock after news spread of the boy’s death.
“The silence is terrible this morning in the village,” a relative said.
The news was announced by a royal statement, after King Mohammed VI called Rayan’s parents with his condolences.
The boy’s body, wrapped in a yellow blanket after being carried out from the tunnel, was taken to a military hospital in Rabat. His parents were escorted in another ambulance.
Messages of condolences and support for the family has continued to fill social media after the tragic conclusion to the rescue operation.