Trapped 2 Year Old
Rescuers frantically racing to reach a two-year-old boy trapped in a borehole are clinging to the hope of finding him alive despite massive setbacks in getting to the bottom of the deep and narrow cavity.
The operation to rescue Julen Rosello from the shaft has gripped Spain since he fell into it on Sunday during a family meal in the countryside north east of Malaga.
Adults can’t fit in the 110-metre deep, 25 cm diameter hole and machinery hit an obstruction of hardened soil and a stone about two-thirds of the way down.
Rescue teams have been unable to break through without endangering the child.
Maria Gamez, the Spanish government’s representative in the Malaga province, vowed the search would continue until the boy is saved.
Officials think he might have slid under the obstruction that is blocking the way down.
The leading engineer in the search said that creating an alternative access point involved days of digging work that normally would take months.
Angel Garcia head of the provincial civil engineers’ association, told reporters that workers will dig two parallel vertical tunnels.
The engineer warned the work was “extremely difficult” and could be hampered by rain that is forecast for coming days.
Cataluña Arrests
NATIONAL POLICE officers in Cataluña have arrested 16 members of a radical pro-independence group in connection with blocking railways and other acts which took place alongside protests last year.
Officers made the arrests in Girona. The detainees are members of the Committee of the Defence of the Republic (CDR) which has organised rallies and direct action in support of Catalan Independence.
The arrests followed complaints made by ADIF the railway infrastructure body after AVE lines were blocked on the anniversary of the 2017 Catalan independence vote.
Court sources said warrants were not issued for the arrests but cited Article 492 of Criminal Procedure laws which allow police to detain people they believe could commit crimes.
The CDR and CUP leftist pro-independence group protested against the arrests outside the National Police station in Girona.
Migrant Rescue
Spain’s maritime rescue service says it has saved 472 people who were trying to cross the Mediterranean over the past two days.
The service says that 17 people, including one woman, were rescued early yesterday from two inflatable rafts like those used at beaches and swimming pools.
The spokeswoman said that 455 migrants were rescued on Wednesday.
The service says two of the rescued, who were suffering severe hypothermia, had to be evacuated from rescue vessels by helicopters.
Driving Troubles
REAL Madrid’s Karim Benzema has once more fallen foul of traffic authorities – just months after being caught filming himself at 120 kilometres an hour on a town road and three years after losing his licence for driving at over 200 kilometres per hour.
This time, the French centre-forward could face a loss of between three and six license points for driving with his right hand bandaged after breaking a bone in his little finger.