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Rescuers struggle to find toddler in Spanish well

Rescuers in southern Spain are digging a horizontal tunnel in an attempt to reach the bottom of a deep and narrow well where they hope to find a 2-year-old toddler, two days after he disappeared. The 330-feet-deep shaft is too narrow for an adult to enter. It was bored last month during water prospection works and was left unmarked.

Maria Gamez, Spain's top official in the Malaga province, said the new tunnel will help rescuers who failed to extract soil from the well with heavy suctioning machinery during overnight works.

Spain Missing Toddler
First responders search for a 2-year-old boy who fell into a well in Malaga, Spain, on Monday, Jan. 14, 2019. Gregorio Marrero / AP

She said a hard rock has impeded machinery from passing beyond the 80-meter mark down the borehole. A robotic camera found a bag of candy along with a cup that belongs to the missing child, BBC News reported. More than 100 firefighters, police officers and emergency officials are at the scene.

The boy disappeared on Sunday at a family gathering in a mountainous area northeast of the provincial capital.

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