Rescue Attempt for Toddler Trapped in Well for 8 Days Is Put on Hold As Drill Hits Hard Rock
The rescue workers who have been tirelessly trying to save a 2-year-old boy who fell at least 30 stories down a well in Spain eight days ago have had to put their mission on hold after a drill hit a hard rock.
Authorities expected that they would find Julen Rosello in the deep borehole in Totalan by Friday, but the area’s complicated terrain has slowed rescue efforts, Reuters reports.
“We are incredibly motivated to reach him as soon as possible. We’re not bothered by the hours, the tiredness or the lack of sleep,” Ángel Vidal, the lead engineer overseeing the rescue, said on Saturday, according to The Guardian. “We are hopeful that we will reach him as soon as possible and bring him back to his parents.”
The outlet reports that the diggers hit hard granite, which slowed them down.
“We continue to work intensely, nonstop, and we hope to reach our desired goal very soon,” he said.
Julen fell down the well on Sunday, Jan. 13 while out for a picnic with his family in the town off of Spain’s southern coast, according to the Associated Press. He likely wandered away from his parents that afternoon and slipped into the hole.
The AP also reports that the drill has reached 53 meters, and miners will be lowered down the shaft to dig a horizontal tunnel that they hope leads them to where the toddler is trapped.
More than 100 firefighters and emergency workers have been looking for the boy since Sunday. But the hole is currently too narrow for any adult to enter, according to the AP.
After rescue teams sent a robotic camera down the well, they only made it 229 ft. down before realizing that even the camera was too big for the hole, according to NBS News. The camera was useful in discovering candy the boy had been carrying, as well as hair in the soil that matched his DNA.
“My wife is broken,” Jose told reporters on Wednesday, according to NBC. “We are dead inside. But we hope we have an angel to get my son out of there.”
