Morocco prepared to bury "little Rayan" on Monday, the five-year-old child who died stuck in a well despite a days-long rescue mission that captured the world's attention.

After falling down a 32-meter (100-foot) dry well last Tuesday, the child's plight garnered global attention and generated an outpouring of concern online.

His funeral will take place in his hometown of Ighrane, in northern Morocco's poor Rif highlands, where the tragedy occurred, a local official and a family told AFP.

On Saturday night, spectators celebrated in glee as rescue crews arrived in Rayan following a 24-hour digging operation to remove the remaining handfuls of earth.

However, joy quickly turned to despair as word spread that the rescue had come too late and Rayan had died.

"The silence is terrible this morning in the village," a relative observed.

The announcement was released by the North African nation's royal cabinet, following a phone call from King Mohammed VI to the parents expressing his sympathies.

"We thank his majesty the king, the authorities and all those who have helped us," Rayan's father Khaled Aourram said on Saturday evening. "Praise God, have mercy on the dead."

According to a cousin, Rayan's body was brought to a military hospital in Rabat; however, no report of an examination has been made.

The race to rescue Rayan was broadcast live worldwide, and tributes poured in as soon as the awful conclusion was announced.

While lamenting the boy's death, Pope Francis commended the "beautiful" sight of "how all the people gathered together" to attempt to save a kid.

Nation taken aback

Aourram stated that he was mending the well near the family house when the boy fell in.

The shaft, which measured just 45 centimeters (18 inches) in diameter, was too narrow to reach Rayan directly and expanding it was thought too dangerous. Instead, earthmovers dug a large slope into the hill.

Rescue troops excavated the surrounding red earth with bulldozers and front-end loaders to the level where the youngster was trapped before drilling teams created a horizontal tunnel to reach him from the side without risking a landslide.

Numerous people gathered to show their support, singing and praying for the rescuers working around the clock.

Moroccans were stunned by the boy's death.

Mourad Fazoui, Rabat's mayor, described it as a calamity. "May his soul rest in peace, and may God open the gates of heaven to him," the salesman prayed.

From regional competitor Algeria to France and the United States, social media users have filled the internet with words of solidarity and mourning and an appreciation for the rescue crews.

"He has brought people together around him," a Twitter user stated.

However, some saw things differently, with one online user lamenting a "dystopic world" in which "Arab nations are moved by the rescue of a child in Morocco." In contrast, others perish in Yemen and Syria due to food or conflict.

The boy's suffering was reminiscent of a tragedy in early 2019 in Spain when a two-year-old youngster perished after slipping into an abandoned well more than 70 meters deep.

Julen Rosello's body was recovered during a 13-day search and rescue operation.