To prevent a repetition of the Rayyan tragedy Morocco begins counting random wells

The Moroccan authorities have begun to identify random wells, which may pose a threat to public safety, so that the Rayan tragedy is not repeated.

The Moroccan authorities announced, on Wednesday, work to limit random wells, which may pose a threat to public safety, so that the tragedy of the child "Rayan Oran", who died Saturday inside a well in the north of the country, would not be repeated.

Rayan, 5, was killed in a well that he was stuck in for more than 100 hours, an event that attracted the world's attention while trying to save him.

Director of Water Research and Planning at the Ministry of Equipment and Water, Abdelaziz Zerouali, told the official news agency, "The Minister of Equipment and Water, Nizar Baraka, gave strict instructions to directors of water basin agencies, to carry out a comprehensive inventory of random wells, which may pose a threat to public safety, in coordination with Local authorities".

He explained that "in light of the inventory process, which will be carried out by the Water Police, in coordination with the local authority, the water basin agencies will issue a warning to those concerned within reasonable deadlines to close these wells or restore them, to avoid any danger to the public and animals, according to conditions specified in the licensing decisions.

Zerouali stated that "in the event of non-compliance with these procedures, the water basin agency concerned will carry out the filling process at the expense of the violator, with the possibility of judicial follow-up."

He stressed that "there are no shortcomings in the procedures in place for drilling wells at the legal level, as drilling and fetching are subject to the licensing system."

He added that "hydro basin agencies issue annually licensing decisions for drilling and fetching at a rate of between 30,000 and 40,000 licenses, while the administration does not have statistics on abandoned unlicensed wells."

He added that the water basin agencies annually issue about 1,000 violation reports, mainly related to unlicensed wells and boreholes. Drilling machines are confiscated while the wells are closed, and the Water Police reports are directed to the Public Prosecution.

On February 1, the child "Ryan" fell into a well of a narrow diameter and difficult to descend into, in a village in the "Bab Berd" area near the city of Chefchaouen (North).

Volunteers from the village and the rescue teams initially tried to go down to the well to dig out "Ryan", but its narrow diameter, "which does not exceed 40 centimeters", prevented this. Then the rescue teams and the concerned authorities rushed to retrieve him in a complex operation, and managed to get him out, dead, on Saturday evening.