Rescuers race against the clock to find toddler in Spanish well
THE search for a toddler who fell down a well in Spain in a tragedy that has gripped the country ran into problems as rescuers raced against time to find the boy alive.
Julen Rosello, who is two, fell down a very narrow shaft more than 100m deep last weekend while playing as his parents had lunch nearby in the town of Totalan near Malaga, family members said.
“We’re putting all our efforts in going as fast as possible but I want you to know there are huge difficulties,” Angel Garcia Vidal, the engin- eer coordinating the work, told reporters on the fifth day of rescue operations.
He added that under normal circumstances, the type of excavation work being carried out to try to get Julen out would take “months”.
Rescuers are for now un- able 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. Mr Garcia said there was ventilation in at least the upper half of the well.
“With the hope an angel will help us get him out alive,” Julen’s father said.