TOTALAN, Spain—Heavy trucks brought drilling equipment and giant pipes as rescue workers prepared on Jan. 18, to dig a tunnel in an effort to reach a two-year-old boy who has been trapped in a deep well in southern Spain since Jan. 13.
“The priority now is the works on the vertical tunnel,” said a spokeswoman for the regional government in Malaga.
Officials said on Thursday they were not losing hope of finding the boy alive, but the operation would take at least a few days.
Inside 240ft tunnel where boy, 2, has been trapped for 4 days after falling down well
Julen Rosello's dad said his family is 'dead inside' but they are holding onto hope the child will be rescued from the well in Malaga, Spain pic.twitter.com/wjSB6K2MtE
— Lilian Chan (@bestgug) January 17, 2019
A second tunnel is also planned after rescuers have erected a platform to remove earth and debris.
The child, Julen, fell into the well which is just 25 cm (10 inches) wide and 100 meters (yards) deep as his family walked through a private estate in Totalan, Malaga.
Julen Rosello: Hair discovered in search for two-year-old boy trapped down 360ft well in Malaga https://t.co/7QwrjNPG9N pic.twitter.com/g1Tx7vjNSp
— RAY (@raybae689) January 17, 2019
The case has captivated Spain and the whole country is holding its breath for the outcome, not least because Julen’s parents lived another family tragedy in 2017. According to media reports, their three-year-old son died suddenly while walking along a beach not far from Totalan.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska thanked public and private entities on Friday for “putting all their means at our disposal” in what he said was a very complex rescue operation.
by Jose Elias Rodriguez and Miguel Pereira