La excavación para llevar al niño Rayan se retoma tras toparse con una roca

The technicians working on the rescue of the child Rayan from a well in the Moroccan town of Ighran came up against a rock early this morning that slowed down the drilling of the tunnel that will lead to the cavity where the little boy is found.

The head of the rescue monitoring and surveillance committee, Abdelhadi Tamrani, told the media on the spot that the rock has practically stopped the work for about three hours and that there are still less than three metres left to reach Rayan.

Once this barrier has been overcome, the technicians will continue working on ground that is easier to drill into. The work continues this Saturday without a break to finish the five and a half metre tunnel that is being drilled horizontally to the bottom of the shaft, which is going at a slow pace due to the delicacy of the terrain.

Thanks to this tunnel, it will be possible to reach Rayan, who has been in the shaft since last Tuesday and whose physical condition is unknown.

In order to drill this tunnel, the rescue workers first dug vertically next to the shaft to a depth of 32 metres, and now they are digging horizontally to the bottom. Two teams are working alternately to dig it, in the hope that in a few hours it will be finished and they will be able to reach the boy's location.

A Royal Gendarmerie helicopter has been sent to the site to transport the child if necessary, as well as an ambulance equipped with resuscitation equipment.

The incident has caused a great commotion in Morocco, where social networks are full of photos and messages of solidarity with the child's parents. Many internet users have changed their profile pictures to that of Rayan.