Drilling machines have been brought in to help in the search for a two-year-old boy who has been trapped in a well in Spain for five days.
Julen Rosello fell into the 110-metre (360-foot) shaft while walking with his parents in a mountainous area in Totalan, northeast of Malaga.
The well is so narrow rescuers are not able to get down it, so have been forced to use machinery to drill tunnels.
However a blockage was found two thirds of the way down and now further tunnels will need be drilled to create alternative routes to the toddler.
“The terrain’s geology is complicated, and that’s slowing down the works,” Angel Garcia, the leading engineer coordinating the search-and-rescue operation, said.
Authorities have said there are hopes Julen could still be alive if there is enough oxygen under the obstruction.
More than 100 professionals and volunteers had earlier found a bag of sweets in the well but two cameras were lowered into the shaft were not able to capture any trace of the toddler.
Later rescuers found several strands of hair, which were DNA tested and shown to belong to the child.
The boy’s dad, José Roselló, told reporters the family were “not going to give up” and have “hope that he is not dead”.
He said: “I feel like we have [been] here for months,” adding while he feared the worst, he had “hope for an angel to help us bring him back alive”.
Agencies contributed to this report
