Algerian civil defence recovers body of 10-year-old boy from well

After four days of digging, drilling and waiting, rescuers in western Algeria recovered the body of a 10-year-old boy who had fallen into a well.

The boy, identified as Ayoub, fell on Wednesday while walking home in the village of Errokn, in the municipality of Ghassoul. A wooden board covering the opening gave way beneath him, sending him into a shaft about 80 metres deep and only 40 centimetres wide.

Rescuers could not descend into the narrow well. Instead, they dug a parallel shaft and then worked through a horizontal passage to reach him. Machinery, technical experts and multiple emergency agencies were deployed, but loose soil and hard layers of rock slowed the operation.

A crisis response unit was formed in el-Bayadh under provincial governor Noureddine Belarbi. Civil protection, security and military personnel took part. Large crowds gathered near the site as the operation entered what authorities called its decisive phase on the fourth day.

The civil protection agency said on Facebook on Saturday that teams reached Ayoub and recovered his body after local authorities and other agencies mobilised available resources. His death has revived public debate over unsecured wells in rural Algeria and the lack of regulation covering such structures, particularly in isolated areas.

The case recalled earlier well deaths in Algeria and Morocco, including the 2018 death of a young man in Msila province and the widely followed 2022 rescue operation involving Moroccan toddler Rayan.