Rescuers call in the excavators as they prepare to dig to save boy
Rescuers call in the excavators as they prepare to dig two tunnels in bid to save boy, two, who fell down 350ft well in Spain
- Julen Rosello has been trapped in shaft since Sunday when he fell in during meal
- Bid to save him with a horizontal shaft from nearby hillside failed when it hit rock
- Workers will start drilling two vertical tunnels on Friday after platform is in place
This is the first picture of two-year-old Julen (pictured with his family), who has been trapped down a well for four days
Rescuers have called in the excavators as they prepare to dig two tunnels in a bid to save a two-year-old boy who fell down a 350-foot well in Spain.
Julen Rosello has been trapped in the shaft since Sunday when he fell in during a family meal in the countryside north of Malaga.
A bid to free Julen by digging a horizontal hole from a nearby hillside failed when it hit heavy stone, which engineers could not break through without endangering him.
Engineers will begin drilling the two vertical tunnels on Friday after they have had time to install a platform for the heavy machinery.
The leading engineer in the search, Angel Garcia, said creating an alternative access point involved days of digging work and technical surveying of terrains that normally would take months.
He warned the work was ‘extremely difficult’ and could be hampered by rain that is forecast for coming days.
Maria Gamez, the Spanish government’s representative in the Malaga province, vowed the search would continue until the boy is saved.
‘We are not going to stop even one minute,’ Ms Gamez said.
‘Nobody in the rescue team is putting in doubt that we will bring him out, and we all remain confident that he will be alive.’
No vocal contact has been made with Julen.
Scroll down for video.
A bulldozer moves into place as engineers prepare to dig two new tunnels at the site in the countryside north of Malaga
Rescuers are for now unable to get to where they believe the child is as a layer of earth, sand and stones believed to have been dragged down by Julen when he fell have blocked the well.
The toddler is believed to be underneath and the discovery of several strands of his hair by rescuers appears to confirm that theory.
But no one knows if Julen is still alive.
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Mr Garcia said there was ventilation in at least the upper half of the well. ‘Beyond the blockage there may be some or not,’ he added.
‘We’re dead, but with the hope an angel will help us get him out alive,’ Julen’s father Jose said yesterday. ‘It feels like it’s lasted for months.’
The rescue operation is unprecedented in Spain given how difficult it is.
This photo posted by local firefighters show the small 15in-wide hole Julen fell down on Sunday afternoon
Among the nine companies taking part in operations is Stockholm Precision Tools AB, a Swedish company that in 2010 contributed to the spectacular rescue of 33 Chilean miners trapped 69 days underground.
This race-against-time recalls several other high-profile cases in the 1980s.
Alfredo Rampi, an Italian boy, was found dead in a well near Rome in 1981 while Jessica McClure, an 18-month-old girl, was rescued alive from a well in Texas in October 1987 after more than two days inside.
Footage has emerged from inside the 240ft stretch of tunnel separating rescuers from a two-year-old boy who fell down the borehole in a freak accident on Sunday
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