Five-Year-Old Boy Trapped In Afghan Well For Three Days Dies

Several Taliban officials, on Friday disclosed that a five-year-old boy trapped for three days down a well in a remote Afghan village has died.

The child, named Haidar, slipped Tuesday to the bottom of a well being dug in Shokak, a parched village in Zabul province, around 400 kilometres (250 miles) southwest of the capital Kabul.

Rescuers worked non-stop to try to reach the boy, who officials said was still alive Friday morning — before later announcing he had died.

“With great sorrow, young Haidar is separated from us forever,” said Taliban interior ministry senior adviser Anas Haqqani, in a tweet echoed by several of his colleagues.

The operation comes around two weeks after a similar attempt to rescue a boy from a Moroccan well gripped the world, but ended with the child found dead.