Rescuers hope to reach Spanish boy in borehole in 35 hours

MADRID (AP) - Authorities in southern Spain said Saturday they hope to soon reach the spot where they believe a two-year-old boy is trapped after falling in a deep borehole six days ago.

Angel Garcia, the leading engineer coordinating the search-and-rescue operation, said that they hope to reach the spot in 35 hours - though that depends on everything "going favorably."

Garcia said a drill is perforating a hole, after which two or three experts will be lowered in a cage so they can begin digging a horizontal tunnel to the location where they believe the toddler is.

There has been no contact made with Julen Rosello, who fell into the 110-meter (360-foot) deep, 25 centimeter-diameter (10-inch) waterhole on Sunday during a family meal in the countryside northeast of Malaga. The only sign of him search-and-rescue teams have found so far is hair that matched his DNA.

Rescuers hope to find the boy at a depth of 72 meters, where the hole is blocked by soil.

The entire country remains gripped by the plight of the boy and his family. Efforts to reach him have been excruciatingly slow because of the difficulty of the rocky terrain.

"We are hopeful that we can get to him as soon as possible and bring him to his parents," Garcia said.