Rescuers in Spain have said they hope, within the next day and a half, to find a two-year-old boy who fell in a borehole nearly a week ago.
Julen Rosello plunged into the 110m shaft on Sunday while walking with his parents in a mountainous area near the village of 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.
Angel Garcia, the leading engineer coordinating the search-and-rescue operation in Totalan near Malaga, said that estimate depends on everything “going favourably”.
Mr Garcia said a drill is perforating a hole, and then two or three experts in mining rescues will dig a horizontal tunnel to the location where they believe the toddler fell.
Mr Garcia said: “We are hopeful that we can get to him as soon as possible and bring him to his parents.”
There has been no vocal contact made with Julen.
The discovery of several strands of the boy's hair on Wednesday is the first confirmation that Julen – who is said to have momentarily wandered away from his mother and father – is down the hole. DNA tests have shown it belongs to the child.
The boy’s dad, José Roselló, told reporters that the family was "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 that, while he feared the worst, he had “hope for an angel to help us bring him back alive".
AP
