Rescuers hope to reach Spanish boy trapped in deep hole by Sunday
- The plight of Julen Rosello and his family continues to grip Spain
- Experts will try to dig a horizontal tunnel to where the toddler is believed to be
Authorities in southern Spain said on Saturday they hope to soon reach the spot where they believe a two-year-old boy is trapped after falling in a deep borehole six days ago.
Angel Garcia, the leading engineer coordinating the search-and-rescue operation, said that they hope to get there in 35 hours — sometime on Sunday — though that depends on everything “going favourably.”
Garcia said a drill is perforating a hole, after which two or three experts will be lowered in a cage so they can begin digging a horizontal tunnel to the location where they believe the toddler is.
There has been no contact made with Julen Rosello, who fell into the 110-metre (360-foot) deep, 25 centimetre-diameter (10-inch-wide) waterhole on Sunday during a family meal in the countryside northeast of Malaga. The only sign of him search-and-rescue teams have found so far is hair that matched his DNA.
Rescuers hope to find the boy at a depth of 72 metres (236 feet), where the hole is blocked by soil.