KABUL (Reuters) – A young boy in trapped in a well in southern Afghanistan for three days died before locals and authorities were able to rescue him, officials said on Friday.
The boy, who was aged around five years old, had fallen into the well on Wednesday. Since then authorities and ordinary citizens had tried to dig him out, said Sharafat Weyar, head of information and culture for southern Zabul province.
The boy – who local media reported was named Haider – was pulled out of the well on Friday but had died, Weyar said.
The Afghanistan office of UNICEF, the United Nation’s children’s agency, in a tweet thanked the rescuers for their efforts.
“All of us…are sad to learn that little Haider didn’t make it out of the borehole alive,” the tweet said. “Our heartfelt condolences to his grieving family and friends.”
Weyar said the boy had been selling items near the well on Wednesday, when he fell in.
The tragedy echoed the death of a small boy earlier this month in northern Morocco, who was trapped in a well for five days but died before rescuers were able to reach him.
(Reporting by Kabul newsroom; Writing by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Alex Richardson)