RACE AGAINST TIME
Rescuers dig new tunnel to reach two-year-old boy trapped down a 250ft well for six days
THE engineer leading the search-and-rescue operation said they hoped to reach the child at some point on Sunday
RESCUERS are frantically digging a new tunnel to reach a two-year-old boy who has been trapped down a 250ft well in Spain for six days.
THE engineer leading the search-and-rescue operation for Julen Rosello, Angel Garcia, said they hoped to reach the child at some point on Sunday.
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Garcia said once the hole reaches the depth where rescuers believe the child to be, two or three mining experts will be lowered in a cage so they can begin digging a 13-foot-long horizontal tunnel to the child.
The child is believed to be 236 feet down, where the well is blocked with soil.
There has been no contact made with the toddler, who fell into the 10-inch-wide waterhole on Sunday during a family meal in the countryside northeast of Malaga.
The only sign of him search-and-rescue teams have found so far is hair that matched his DNA.
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Efforts to reach Rosello have been excruciatingly slow because of the difficulty of the rocky terrain.
One of the drilling machines, described as the most powerful in Spain, was taken off a job on a motorway near Madrid so it could be used in the rescue operation.
We are hopeful that we can get to him as soon as possible and bring him to his parents.
Leading engineer Angel Garcia
Garcia said: "We are hopeful that we can get to him as soon as possible and bring him to his parents.”
The race against time to reach the youngster means proper surveys have not been carried out and rocks underground could cause further delays.
Officials said on Friday night they were just 10 feet away from digging out an 82ft deep orifice in the hillside and creating a platform from which the new hole would be dug.
SPECIAL RESCUE CAPSULE
A special capsule capable of supporting the weight of two people and oxygen equipment has been created so Julen can be brought out alive if he had survived.
Police and private sector experts involved in the extraordinary operation are still clinging to the hope the youngster is surviving in an air pocket with water.
Julen’s devastated parents Jose Rosello and Vicky Garcia, 29, are now staying at a house lent to them by a Good Samaritan after being asked to leave the hillside where they spent most of the past five days for their own safety.
The property is near the town of Totalan and close to the scene of the ongoing operation a half-hour drive north east of the Costa del Sol capital of Malaga where the couple are from.
The hole was made by a prospector at the request of Jose’s cousin’s boyfriend to search for water.
The prospector has told police he complied with the law by sealing the hole after it was made but Julen’s family say it had simply been covered with stones that weren’t properly laid.
He had already gone. I heard him cry at first but then I didn’t hear him cry anymore.
Jose Rosello, parent
Recalling the moment he realised Julen had disappeared down the borehole as he prepared lunch, Jose told a Spanish TV programme earlier this week: “I was putting some more wood on for the fire and ran towards him.
“My cousin was a bit nearer and threw herself on the ground as I reached the orifice.
“He had already gone. I heard him cry at first but then I didn’t hear him cry anymore.”
In an interview with Malaga-based paper Sur he added: “My wife went to phone into work to let them know she wasn’t going.
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“She was with Julen and asked me to keep an eye on him as she made the call. He was only a few feet away.
“I went to get a couple of logs for the fire for the paella and he began to run.
“We saw how he fell down the hole, my cousin more than me because she was closer.”
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