Spanish toddler found dead in hole after dire 13-day search
- No contact had been made with the two-year-old child since he went missing during a picnic, but rescuers had refused to give up hope
Rescue crews in Spain early on Saturday found the body of a two-year-old boy, whose fall into a deep borehole 13 days earlier prompted a complex and heart-wrenching search-and-rescue operation that had the country holding its breath.
Julen Rosello fell down the narrow 110-metre (360-feet)-deep borehole on January 13 while his family was preparing a countryside Sunday lunch. Adding to the family’s tragedy, Spanish media reported that his parents had another young son who died of a heart attack in 2017.
Julen’s remains were found in the early hours of Saturday by rescuers digging a tunnel to reach him, said a spokeswoman with the Spanish government’s office in the southern province of Malaga.
The spokeswoman, who was not authorised to be named in the media according to internal protocol, said that a judicial commission would follow up with the accident’s investigation.
The tragedy had gripped Spaniards from day one and the country followed closely every turn of an extremely complex operation, frequently hampered by layers of hard rock.
