TOTALAN: On Saturday Rescuers found the body of a two-year-old boy who fell in a well on January 13 in southern Spain after an unparalleled rescue operation fraught with glitches which had kept the country on tenterhooks. Hundreds of people had been working round-the-clock under the media glare to try to reach Julen Rosello, who fell down a narrow shaft which is more than 100 metres deep while his parents prepared lunch in Totalan, a southern town near Malaga.
The central government's representative in the southwestern region of Andalusia, Alfonso Rodriguez Gomez de Celis, took his Twitter and wrote that “Unfortunately at 1:25 am the rescue team reached the spot where they were looking for Julen and found the lifeless body of the little one," he further added that "My condolences to the family. RIP,". A hearse arrived at the site shortly after the news broke that Julen's body had been found.
The only evidence of the boy's presence were some strands of hair that matched his DNA and a bag of candy that he had been holding when he fell into the well.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wrote on Twitter that "We will always appreciate the tireless effort of those who searched for him during all these days." The complex rescue operation has been burdened with complications that have caused delay upon delay as Julen's distraught parents and relatives stood by.
While Rescuers were been able to get to Julen via the well he fell down because it was blocked by a layer of earth, sand and stones believed to have been dislodged when he tumbled into the shaft. They decided to dig a vertical shaft parallel to the well, 60 metres deep, which was finished late on Monday.
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Eventually, they succeeded and expert miners on Thursday began painstakingly digging a four-metre tunnel to join both channels and hopefully reach Julen with the help of four small, controlled explosions. The miners worked in teams of two and were equipped with oxygen tanks.Two miners had to first go down the shaft and bore a few holes. They were then followed by two specialised officers who set up the explosives.Once they returned above ground, the explosives were detonated and then the rescue team had to wait half an hour to clear the shaft of polluted air.
