Police search and rescue teams are in a desperate race against time to try to locate a two-year-old boy who has fallen down a 350ft deep well on Spain’s Costa del Sol.
The toddler, named only as Yulen, plunged down the 15-inch wide hole, located on the property of some family friends, on Sunday afternoon as his parents prepared lunch nearby.
One relative has told police they heard the boy crying seconds after he vanished, but there have not been any signs of life from the child since.
The heartbreaking story has become all the more tragic today, as it has been revealed that Yulen’s parents Vicky and Jose lost another child two years ago.
Race against time: This photo posted by local firefighters show the small 15in-wife hole the young boy fell down yesterday afternoon
Three-year-old Oliver, Yulen’s older brother, died of a heart attack in May 2017, when the missing boy was just a few months old.
Emergency services have been working throughout the night at the country property near the Costa del Sol capital of Malaga to try to reach the boy.
A camera lowered into the well has failed to capture any sound or images indicating if the boy is dead or alive, although a blockage which is thought to be a small landslide has been spotted 250ft down.
A bag of sweets Yulen was carrying – which caught on the inside of the well wall when he fell – has also been discovered
The shaft, which is too narrow for an adult to enter, had been bored a month earlier during water prospection works and had not been covered or protected, local media are reporting.
Gamez says that rescuers are trying to avoid blocking the small diameter of the well, which may have water at the bottom, with falling soil as they search for the boy.
Yulen’s parents, a couple in their twenties who live in the Malaga neighbourhood of El Palo, were enjoying a day in the countryside with friends who own a country property near the spot where the boy was last seen.
Tragedy: The two-year-old boy, named only as Yulen, fell down the deep well on a countryside property in Malaga, Spain’s Costa del Sol while his parents were having lunch nearby
Mission: More than 100 firefighters and emergency workers in southern Spain are searching for the two-year-old
They were preparing Sunday lunch in an area near a pre-historic burial ground known as Cerro de la Corona, a 20-minute drive from their home, when their son vanished at around 2pm yesterday.
A spokesman for the Civil Guard, who said the information about the circumstances of the youngster’s disappearance had come from the family, told local press: ‘The operation is going to continue as long as is necessary.
‘The boy’s father and a local emergency services coordination centre called police around the same time at 2pm to alert us to what had happened.’
Outgoing Andalucia president Susana Diaz tweeted: ‘Following with concern what’s happened in Totalan, Malaga.
‘All my thoughts and support for the parents, family and friends, as well as the rescue teams that are working in the area.’
Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez added: ‘I share the anguish of the family of the two-year-old who has fallen down a well in Totalan, Malaga.
‘All my support for the parents and the emergency teams who are participating in the rescue.
‘We continue to hope for the best outcome.’
Emergency services fear the youngster is beneath a bank of wet sand discovered 250ft down the well which is believed to be the result of a mini-landslide.
Around 100 people, including police, firefighters, Civil Protection workers and experts from the private sector, are taking part in the operation.
The well is not wide enough for an adult to squeeze into, and rescuers are set to make three attempts – expected to take place simultaneously – to reach Yulen.
One will involve an accelerated bid to remove earth believed to have been caused by a mini landslide inside the well which is blocking the bottom of the shaft where emergency services fear the two-year-old may be.
Experts have only removed part of the blockage – around 250ft down the 350ft hole – and more specialist equipment has been called in.
Search: It is not clear if there is water at the bottom of the hole, which was reportedly created last December by prospectors
A Civil Guard spokesman said plans were also being drafted to make a second hole next to the one Yulen is thought to be in.
Simultaneously rescuers are planning to tunnel into the side of the mountain by the well.
Maria Gamez, a central government representative for the Malaga airport, said late this morning: ‘At dawn a decision was taken to remove the earth that was blocking the bottom of the well.
‘Around 30 centimetres was removed before emergency teams reached a hard area. Now other options have to be explored.’
Bernardo Molto, for the Guardia Civil, said: ‘The first option involves the removal of earth with a lorry which will come to take it away.
‘The second is to dig a hole running parallel to the existing one with the additional problem that the hole is not cased and it has to be cased first to avoid it collapsing.
‘The third alternative that’s going to be approved is an excavation from the side of the mountain.’
Police, firefighters, Civil Protection workers and private sector experts involved in the operation, which got underway 24 hours ago, have not yet seen any sign of the youngster.
They say they have not given up hope he is still alive because there may be water at the bottom of the well, but admit privately hopes are ‘slim.’
A robot with a rotating camera and LED lights belonging to a private firm that is normally employed to inspect sewage and drainage pipes, is being used in the search for the missing youngster.
Elias Bendodo, President of the Provincial Council of Malaga, said search and rescue teams ‘would not stop until they found him.
He added: ‘We all hope they can find him alive.’