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Spanish miners find body of 2-year-old boy stuck in well

By Sommer Brokaw
A funeral van carries the body of two-year-old boy Julen before his funeral in Malaga, Spain, Saturday. Miners managed to reach the boy's body at 1:25 a.m. Saturday. Julen fell down the well on Jan. 13. Photo by Daniel Perez/EPA-EFE
A funeral van carries the body of two-year-old boy Julen before his funeral in Malaga, Spain, Saturday. Miners managed to reach the boy's body at 1:25 a.m. Saturday. Julen fell down the well on Jan. 13. Photo by Daniel Perez/EPA-EFE

Jan. 26 (UPI) -- Spanish miners on Saturday found the body of a 2-year-old boy who fell into a well nearly two weeks ago.

Julen Rosello fell into an abandoned, narrow borehole on Jan. 13 while he was playing in the field with another boy in Malaga province. A rescue team's search found a candy bag and plastic cup at a depth of about 262 feet, confirming at the time, that he had fell in the borehole.

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The toddler became trapped behind hardened soil and rock that blocked rescue workers and equipment. Miners had been drilling a 260-foot long horizontal tunnel to reach him, as the search gripped the nation, The New York Times reported.

His "lifeless body" was found at 1:25 a.m. Saturday, Alfonso Rodriguez Gomez de Celis, a government official, said.

Rescue workers found his body at a depth of around 262 feet and brought it up to the surface where his parents were waiting, The Local Spain reported. His body was taken from the site to a funeral home in a hearse.

The forensic team will work to determine the cause of death and whether the fall itself killed him.

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A local court has opened an investigation into exactly what happened. The tragedy has called attention to the frequent drilling of boreholes to find water without permission.

Rodriguez Gomez de Celis would not comment on the police investigation, but urged landowners to help seal abandoned boreholes to prevent similar accidents.

"Whoever has dug an illegal well in our country still has time to make it known," Rodriguez Gomez de Celis said.

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