His name was Rayan Oram, and he was pulled out from a deep well in Morocco by rescuers after one lengthy operation that captivated global attention.
It all began on February, 1, 2011, when the young boy fell into a 32-meter dry well in Ighran village in Tamorot commune, Chefchaouen Province. At that time, he was playing outside, which happened to be the location of the well, while his father was busy working nearby.
When the father realized that his boy went missing, the family scrambled, and found footprints leading to the well. From above, they called Rayan's name.
And Rayan replied from way down below.
Using a flashlight that is tied with a smartphone and a rope, the family could confirm that the person below was indeed Rayan, and that he was still conscious despite suffering minor injuries to his head.
The family then informed local authorities.
The well is just 45 centimeters wide, and gets narrower as it goes down.
This made traditional methods of rescue from above practically impossible. There is no chance of rescuing Rayan by digging the soil up without endangering the boy, whose body was stuck in a pocket-like pit inside the well.
Racing against time, heavy machineries were brought to the location. Soon, they started digging a trench at the side, parallel to the well Rayan was in.
The plan was to dig vertically to the same level as Rayan using excavators and bulldozers, to then dig horizontally.
The rescue team dug carefully, with the help of topographical engineers, knowing that the soil in the location can be unpredictable.
Incidents like cave-in was the last thing they wanted.
During that time, water, food and oxygen were lowered down by a rope, as well as a camera was put in place to monitor Rayan's condition. And nearby, a medical team complete with an ambulance and a helicopter was present, provided by the Royal Moroccan Gendarmerie.
Outside, the incident caught huge crowd, who prayed, and praise "Allahu Akbar" or ‘God is Great."
Thousands have gathered from nearby villages, and were seen encouraging rescuers. While the men were doing the heavy work, women from the villages contributed by preparing food for the teams.
A tweet from the eldest son of the missing boy’s mother was shared by hundreds of people around the world.
According to the official spokesperson for the Moroccan government Mustapha Baytas, the situation was led by Morocco's Civil Protection Directorate, and being closely monitored by the Minister of the Interior, Abdelouafi Laftit and the Minister of Health, Khalid Aït Taleb.
The palace statement said Moroccan King Mohammed VI had also been closely following the rescue efforts by locals authorities, "instructing officials to use all means necessary to dig the boy out of the well and return him alive to his parents".
Days past as people wait in agony, and this were more painful for Rayan's parents.
Rayan's father who was repairing the well at the time of the accident, said he and Rayan's mother were "devastated and very worried".
"In that one moment I took my eyes off him, the little one fell into the well. I haven't slept a wink."
"The whole family went out to look for him. Then we realized that he'd fallen down the well. I'm still keeping up hope that we'll get him out alive," said Rayan's mother.
At the fourth day, the team was closing in to Rayan.
But to dig horizontally means that the team had to dig with hand tools in order to prevent unwanted vibration which could disturb the surrounding loose soil.
The rocky and sandy soils were proven difficult to deal with in this kind of digging
Then at one moment, a rock fell and blocked the tunnel, causing delays.
"It is not possible to determine the child's condition at all at this time. But we hope to God that the child is alive," said head of the rescue team Abdelhadi Tamrani.
By the time the team reached Rayan, the boy was "motionless."
The entire rescue team, especially the medical team were on high alert, when they brought the boy out, wrapped in a yellow blanket.
His parents, Khaled Oram and Wassima Khersheesh, had been escorted to an ambulance right before the boy emerged.
But unfortunately, the boy has died.
Rayan has passed away on February 5th, after spending at least 96 hours trapped inside the well, and it was reported that he died from natural cause and not because of any external injuries.
Moroccan King Mohammed VI expressed his condolences to the boy's parents in a statement released by the palace, and hailed the rescuers for their relentless work and the community for landing support to Rayan's family.
The location of the well, is near a village of about 500 people.
The well Rayan fell it, was one out of the many wells used for irrigating the cannabis crop that is the main source of income for many in the poor, remote and arid region of Morocco's Rif Mountains.
It's worth noting that most of the wells do have protective covers. But a few of them, and the particular one Rayan fell in, didn't.
This accident received wide spread coverage and had gripped the country, as well as the world.
The incident was so heartbreaking that even Algeria, the country that is a political rival to Morocco, helped with the rescue.
On the internet, the incident was documented through hashtags, like #SaveRayan and #أنقذوا_ريان. And using the same hashtags, people also paid tribute.
"Rayan's courage will stay in our memories and continue to inspire us," tweeted AC Milan's Algerian midfielder Ismael Bennacer.
In a Facebook post, French President Emmanuel Macron wrote: "Tonight, I want to tell the family of little Rayan and the Moroccan people that we share their pain."
A number of other high-profile figures as well as celebrities from around the world also expressed their condolences.
