The search for a two-year-old Spanish boy who fell into a narrow well on Jan. 13 entered its riskiest phase on Thursday as miners went down a new 197-foot parallel shaft to start digging across to the well.
There have been no signs of life since the boy, Julen, fell into the borehole as his family walked through a private estate in Totalan in southern Spain. Rescuers found the well was blocked with earth, raising fears soil had collapsed onto the child.
“Members of the Mines Rescue Brigade sent from Asturias (region) have just accessed the vertical well to start excavation … in the search for Julen,” said regional government representative Alfonso Celis at the site.
Members of a miner rescue team and rescue workers stand next to a capsule before descending into a drilled well at the area where Julen, a Spanish two-year-old boy, fell into a deep well 11 days ago when the family was taking a stroll through a private estate, in Totalan, southern Spain, in this picture released on Jan. 24.
Miners working in rotating shifts will dig a four-meter passage with picks and pneumatic hammers from the bottom of the shaft toward the borehole, which is 100 metres (300 feet) deep and just 25 cm wide.
WATCH BELOW: Spanish police say mountain conditions hampering boy’s rescue
Children and families have been holding candlelight vigils across Spain in support of the missing boy and of the massive rescue operation, even as hopes of finding him alive have faded with each passing day.
Julen’s parents embrace each other during a vigil as a miner rescuer team descends into a drilled well at the area where Julen, a Spanish two-year-old boy, fell into a deep well 11 days ago when the family was taking a stroll through a private estate, in Totalan, southern Spain.
Engineers and miners have worked for 10 days in a row but have run into various technical problems while drilling a shaft parallel to the well.
“No miner is left in a mine, and Julen is now considered a miner,” Juan Lopez Escobar, one of the engineers in charge of the rescue operation, was quoted as saying by EFE news agency. “Whatever may have happened, a miner is always pulled out.”
Women cry as they hold a banner that reads, “From Palma Palmilla, God is with you, Julen,” during a vigil as a miner rescue team descend into a drilled well at the area where Julen, a Spanish two-year-old boy, fell into a deep well 11 days ago when the family was taking a stroll through a private estate, in Totalan, southern Spain.
He told reporters earlier that digging the horizontal passage would be the most dangerous part of the effort.
El Pais reported that Julen’s parents suffered another tragedy in 2017 when their three-year-old son died suddenly after suffering a cardiac arrest while walking along a beach.
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