Moroccan authorities announced the death shortly after rescue workers were able to take him out of the well where he fell five days ago.
Morocco's King Mohammed VI made a phone call to Khaled Oram and Wassima Khersheesh, Rayan's parents, to offer condolences to the family over the death of the little boy.
Emergency teams on Saturday reached Rayan on Saturday night after rescuers worked days to chisel him out of water well.
Rescuers have been working day and night to tunnel toward the boy. But rescuers, fearing that either the well or a parallel shaft that was dug to reach him would collapse at any moment, proceeded with extreme caution.
The operation to save the boy was in what rescuers described as the “decisive phase” as Moroccans and others across North Africa breathlessly followed the rescue on livestreams.
Rayan has been stuck in the well near his home in the tiny village of Ighrane, about 60 miles from the city of Chefchaouen, since Tuesday afternoon. Rescuers brought in bulldozers to dig a parallel shaft from which they could tunnel through to reach the child, but they feared that either part of the well or the parallel shaft would collapse before they could get there.
