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18th Feb 2022

Six-year-old boy dies after being trapped in well for four days

Sarah McKenna Barry

It’s understood that Haider died before he could be transported to a Kabul hospital for urgent medical treatment.

A six-year-old boy has passed away after he was recovered from a well in the southern Zabul province of Afghanistan.

As the BBC reports, the boy, whose name was Haider, had been trapped in the well for four days before rescuers were able to dig a trench to get to him on Friday.

He became trapped in the well, which was 33ft deep, after falling off a road on Tuesday. He was initially able to move his upper body and respond to his father’s calls.

There was no noise coming out of the well 24 hours prior to the recovery, and it’s understood that when he was taken out, he wasn’t breathing and was unresponsive.

The rescue team, who worked around the clock for four days, planned on transporting the boy to via helicopter to the Afghan capital Kabul for urgent medical treatment.

He had tragically passed away before he could get into the helicopter.

A police spokesperson for Zabul, Zabiullah Jawhar told AFP: “In the first minutes after the rescue operation was completed he was breathing, and the medical team gave him oxygen.

“When the medical team tried to carry him to the helicopter, he lost his life.”

Anas Haqqani, who is an interior minister for the Taliban, announced the death of Haider on Twitter.

He wrote: “With great sorrow, young Haidar is separated from us forever.”

The incident comes just weeks after another young boy, five-year-old Rayan, died after becoming trapped in a well in Morocco. Much like Haider, the well Rayan had been trapped in was 32m deep, and he had been there for four days. The rescue team were able to deliver water. oxygen and food to Rayan, but despite their painstaking efforts, he passed away.

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