Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Pope Leo XIV: Peacemakers do not flee, but dare to stay even if it costs them some sacrifice.
The Pope to the Lebanese: You are a diverse country and a community made up of communities united by one language, the language of hope, which has allowed you to start anew.
Pope Leo XIV to the Lebanese: You are a people who do not give up, but a people who persevere in the face of difficulties and know how to be reborn.
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in South Lebanon: Israeli occupation targets bulldozer working to remove rubble of destroyed home in Shebaa.
IRGC sources tell Al Mayadeen that reports of Iranian missile strikes on northern Iraq are false, calling them rumors spread by enemy-linked media.
Trump: Venezuela airspace should be considered 'closed in its entirety'
AFP: Ukraine behind attack on Russian 'shadow fleet' tankers in Black Sea
Sheikh Qassem: We, our allies, the honorable in our nation, our people, and our army will never accept being subservient to the US or 'Israel'
Sheikh Qassem: They must despair, for whatever they do, this people cannot be defeated or broken, and we shall neither fall nor yield
Sheikh Qassem: Threats neither advance nor delay matters, yet the possibility of war or its absence exists because 'Israel' and the US are weighing their options

"With great sorrow..": 5-year-old Afghan boy trapped in well dies

  • By Al Mayadeen Net
  • Source: Agencies
  • 18 Feb 2022 12:25
  • 4 Shares
3 Min Read

After being stuck in a well for 3 days, Taliban authorities have announced the death of a five-year-old Afghan child.

  • x
  • Locals gather as rescuers try to reach the trapped boy (AFP)
    Locals gather as rescuers try to reach the trapped boy (AFP)

Afghan officials announced Friday that a five-year-old kid who had been stranded for three days down a well in a remote village died moments after being rescued alive.

Haidar fell into a well being dug in Shokak, a parched village in Zabul province, around 400 kilometers southwest of Kabul's capital.

Taliban interior ministry senior adviser Anas Haqqani tweeted: “With great sorrow, young Haidar is separated from us forever.”

The boy was clinging to life when rescuers arrived, according to Zabul police spokesperson Zabiullah Jawhar.

"In the first minutes after the rescue operation was completed, he was breathing, and the medical team gave him oxygen," he added.

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

The incident comes two weeks after a similar attempt to save a boy from a Moroccan well captivated the world — but the child was found dead. The tragedy of "little Rayan" went viral and generated an outpouring of sorrow on social media, with the Arabic Twitter hashtag #SaveRayan trending.

Haji Abdul Hadi, Haidar's grandpa, told AFP that the kid slipped into the well while trying to "help" adults drill a new borehole in the drought-stricken community.

Officials said he plummeted to the bottom of the small 25-meter shaft and was dragged approximately 10-meters by rope before becoming lodged.

Hundreds of locals watched the rescue effort in Shokak, which was overseen by senior officials from the Taliban's freshly constituted administration.

Some Taliban leaders shared videos of the difficult operation to showcase how the new regime will spare nothing to care for its citizens.

The child was shown trapped in the well but able to move his arms and upper body in a video released on social media on Thursday.

إِنَّا ِلِلَّٰهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ

May Allah swt bless his soul and grant him the highest rank in jannah. All our prayers are with him 😔 and may he find peace in jannah 💔 #Haidar #Afganistanchildren #Afghanistan 💔🇦🇫 pic.twitter.com/YJJmzwCF6C

— девушка мафии 🇦🇫 (@Dokht_e_Kabul) February 18, 2022

"Are you okay my son?" his desperate father asked. "Talk with me and don't cry, we are working to get you out."

"Okay, I'll keep talking," the boy responds.

To reach the point where Haidar was trapped, engineers used bulldozers to dig an open slit trench from an angle near the surface.

On Friday morning, workmen used pickaxes to blast through a big boulder that was blocking the final few meters but it seems their noble efforts only served to give the boy a few moments to see the light of day before passing away.

  • Afghanistan
  • Haidar
  • well
  • Afghan boy
  • Taliban

Most Read

13 elite Israeli troops were wounded in a confrontations in Beit Jinn, Syria.

13 elite Israeli troops wounded in confrontations in southern Syria

  • West Asia
  • 28 Nov 2025
Four killed, ten wounded in targeted California shooting in Stockton

Four killed, 10 wounded in 'targeted' California shooting

  • US & Canada
  • 30 Nov 2025
Russia and China are not part of the Resistance Front, but they are playing an important role in building structures to bypass US power and thus facilitate a multipolar and freer world. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab el-Hajj)

The Resistance Front and BRICS

  • Opinion
  • 29 Nov 2025
Point-blank killings: 'Israel' executes 2 Palestinian youths in Jenin

Graphic footage: IOF execute 2 Palestinians from point blank in Jenin

  • Politics
  • 27 Nov 2025

Coverage

All
In Five

Read Next

All
Yemen protests
West Asia

Yemenis mark Independence Day, renew support for Palestine, Lebanon

Netanyahu speaks during a meeting with U.S. Vice President JD Vance, at the Prime Minister's Office in occupied al-Quds, on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (AP)
Politics

Pardon for power: Netanyahu to retreat on reform if given immunity

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, right, and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan arrive for a joint news briefing after their meeting, in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP)
Politics

Iran, Turkiye share strategic interests despite differences: Araghchi

In this file photo dated Wednesday, March 21, 2018, a youth holds a flag with the image of Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, in Istanbul, Turkey (AP)
Politics

PKK calls on Turkey to release Ocalan to advance peace process

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS