TOTALAN, Spain (Reuters) - Rescue workers will need at least two more days to reach a two-year-old boy who has been trapped in a deep well in southern Spain since Sunday, a mining expert taking part in the effort said on Thursday. Officials said they were not losing hope to would find the boy alive. Rescuers were now digging tunnels to reach the child who, fell into the well which is just 25 cm (10 inches) wide and 100 meters (328 feet) deep. “The most important here is to be able to get close to the boy. Either horizontally or vertically, in order to start the mining work to reach the place where the boy is at the moment,” mining engineer Juan Escobar told reporters at the site in Totalan, Malaga. “It is very complicated (to complete) in less than two days”, added. Among debris pulled out of the well, rescuers on Wednesday found hair, which DNA tests confirmed belonged to the child, though no signs of life have been detected. “We will not stop until we’ve rescued the child. We’re confident that we can rescue him alive,” a government official in Malaga, Maria Gamez, told reporters gathered at the site. The rescue of Julen, who was seen falling into the well as his family walked through a private estate in Totalan, has drawn huge media attention in Spain and the whole country is holding its breath for the outcome. According to Spanish media, Julen’s parents lived another family tragedy in 2017 when their three-year-old son died suddenly while walking along a beach not far from Totalan. Residents nearby gathered on Wednesday for a vigil to support the family, many holding homemade placards reading “All of Spain is with you”.<doc-sep>Authorities spent the past three days working on multiple plans to get to the boy. They’re trying to determine whether they can safely widen the hole to let a robot or, possibly, a rescuer go deeper, Pilar Limon, a spokesman for the Emergencies Coordination Unit, told NBC News. Authorities are also trying to determine whether they can dig a tunnel that intersects the well.<doc-sep>“If it’s true that there’s a God up there, help him please. Hold on Julen," his mother Vicky Garcia wrote on social media Parents of Toddler Trapped in Well for 12 Days Also Suffered Loss of Their Older Son Two Years Ago Miners continue their tireless search on Friday for the toddler who fell into a well more than a week ago in Southern Spain as they now have to resort to explosives to reach him. Two-year-old Julen Rosello was with his parents, Jose Rosello and Vicky Garcia, in Malaga, Spain, on January 13, when he plummeted at least 30 stories down into an unmarked well. Get push notifications with news, features and more. As his devastated parents painfully wait and cling to hope that he’s still alive, they’re reminded of another tragic loss they suffered in May 2017 with the death of their older son. According to The Washington Post, the parents lost their 3-year-old son, Oliver, who reportedly died of a congenital heart defect. His parents spoke out this week, expressing their hope that Oliver is now watching over his little brother from heaven. “Oliver, don’t forget your brother, Julen,” his mother wrote on social media, according to the Express. “You know we’ve been waiting for him for many hours. I know you protect him a lot, my little King.” The outlet reports that she also posted a picture of a sleeping baby with the caption: “If it’s true that there’s a God up there, help him please. Hold on Julen.” SPAIN-CHILDREN-ACCIDENT Credit: JORGE GUERRERO/AFP/Getty According to Spain’s The Local, the grieving father told reporters that “the well was covered with two stones. When I saw him close to it I ran after him. Then I saw my cousin, who was closer to Julen, fall to the ground.” He then rushed to the hole, heard him cry, and “then I couldn’t hear him anymore.” Rosello added: All I could say to him was “Julen, be calm, Daddy loves and your little brother (the couple’s deceased child) is going to help us.” As the parents and community continue to pray, miners continue to dig. On Thursday, officials went down a new 60-meter (197 ft.) parallel shaft to start digging across to the well, according to Reuters. SPAIN-CHILDREN-ACCIDENT Credit: JORGE GUERRERO/AFP/Getty “Members of the Mines Rescue Brigade sent from Asturias (region) have just accessed the vertical well to start excavation … in the search for Julen,” regional government representative Alfonso Celis said at the site, according to the news outlet. NewsSky reports that after 100 emergency workers couldn’t get to the boy on their own, they now have to use to explosives to get through a 13-ft. wall of hard rock. Julen fell down the well while out for a picnic with his family, according to the Associated Press. Julen likely wandered away from his parents that afternoon and slipped into the open hole. He cried as he fell more than two dozen stories and has not been heard from since, according to the Washington Post. The incident has garnered global attention, with dozens of people gathering in the area to support Julen’s family and hope for his safe rescue. “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.” Rosello told reporters on Wednesday, according to NBC, that “my wife is broken.”<doc-sep>
TOTALÁN, Spain — Rescuers in southern Spain began drilling on Saturday in hopes of rescuing a 2-year-old boy trapped in a deep well for six days. The mission to save the child has triggered an outpouring of public support as rescuers struggle with the challenge of bringing heavy equipment up steep access roads and reaching the toddler safely. “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," Angel Vidal, the lead engineer overseeing the rescue, said on Saturday. "We are hopeful that we will reach him as soon as possible and bring him back to his parents,” he added. The boy, Julen, fell into the borehole, which is just 25 cm (10 inches) wide and 100 meters (yards) deep, as his family walked through a private estate in Totalán, Málaga. A worker directs a pipe as part of excavation works to rescue two-year old boy Julen, who is believed to be trapped inside a well, in the village of Totalan, Malaga, southern Spain on Jan. 19, 2019. Daniel Perez / EPA Officials have been unable to find signs of life but say they are working on the basis that the child is still alive. Video footage shot by firefighters and released by Spanish broadcaster Canal Sur shows a blockage around 70 meters into the well which has prevented rescue services from sending food or water to the child. Trucks brought drilling equipment and giant pipes to the site on Friday. Drilling of the first of two tunnels that will be made to reach the boy began at around 3 p.m. local time and will take around 15 hours, officials said. Once the first tunnel is completed, rescuers will begin working by hand to construct a second shorter tunnel to reach the area where the boy is trapped, which will take a further 20 hours. Residents of the town have held vigils for Julen and in support of his family. Spanish media say the boy's parents suffered another tragedy in 2017 when their three-year-old son died suddenly of health problems while walking along a beach. "Be strong, Julen. Totalán is with you," read a handmade banner hung on the roadside near the rescue site. "We are living some incredibly difficult hours for relatives, friends and neighbors (of the family) and we want to send them our support in this moment," government spokeswoman Isabel Celaa said on Friday in a news conference. (Reporting by Miguel Pereira; writing by Sam Edwards; editing by Jason Neely)