After more than 48 hours of continuous search efforts, the body of an elderly man was recovered who was buried under soil while digging a deep well in one of the municipalities of Biskra Province, southeastern Algeria, on Friday evening. This tragic incident has caused sorrow among Algerians on social media. Since February 28, social media users in Algeria have circulated news of a 70-year-old farmer falling into a dry well in the agricultural area of Hassi Zarari in the municipality of Hajeb (400 kilometers southeast of Algeria).
From that moment, Algerians began to interact with this sad incident minute by minute, sharing videos of the search and wishing for the safe return of the elderly man to his family. Regarding the details of the incident, the victim descended to a depth of 16 to 20 meters with the aim of cleaning and deepening the dry agricultural well. While inside the well, he was buried by large amounts of falling soil, prompting a call for civil protection (civil defense).
From the very first moment of the incident, civil protection teams intervened and commenced the search operation, which continued day and night according to eyewitnesses until they were able to recover the body of the victim on Friday evening, identified as Moustawi Niamoun. During the operation, according to a statement from civil protection, large excavation and soil removal machinery was used due to the type of soil and the well's depth of "20 meters."
Approximately 11 bulldozers were mobilized for the operation, along with civil protection personnel from Biskra Province, including specialized teams from the search and rescue units in rugged terrains of the provinces of Setif, Batna, and Khenchela.
According to a post by the Hajeb municipality on its Facebook page, the operation to recover the deceased Moustawi Niamoun's body was "successfully completed," and they expressed gratitude to everyone who contributed to the success of the operation. The Biskra Province page also stated, "Thank God, after great effort, the body of the deceased person who fell into a traditional dry well in the Hassi Zarari area of Hajeb has been recovered."
According to eyewitness accounts, the difficulty of the rescue operation was attributed to the sandy nature of the area, which complicated the excavation process and extended it over three full days.
