Authorities in Spain have found a toddler who fell down a well bringing to a tragic end an intense 13-day rescue operation.
Two-year-old, Julen Rosello, plunged down a narrow, illegal well on January 13 while his parents prepared lunch nearby in Totalan, a southern town near Malaga.
Hundreds of engineers, police and miners had been working under the media glare to find him.
“Unfortunately at 1:25 am (0225 GMT) the rescue team reached the spot where they were looking for Julen and found the lifeless body of the little one,” the central government’s representative in Andalusia, Alfonso Gomez de Celis, wrote on Twitter.
An AFP photographer reported that the child’s father, Jose, shouted when he was informed of his child’s death, “Not another time, no.”
Julen’s parents lost another child, Oliver, aged three, in 2017. The child had cardiac problems.
Julen made a “free fall” down to a depth of 71 metres (232 feet) when he hit a layer of earth, Gomez de Celis later told reporters, adding that an investigation was underway to determine any “potential liabilities” in the two-year-old’s death.
A hearse arrived at the mountain site shortly after the news broke to take his body to a funeral home, with psychologists at the side of Julen’s parents.
“All of Spain feels the infinite sadness of Julen’s family. We have followed closely every step to reach him,” Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, wrote on Twitter.
In a tweet, Spain’s King, Felipe VI, extended his “deepest condolences to Julen’s whole family.”
The Civil Guard police force, whose explosives experts had helped elite miners in digging a tunnel to reach Julen, tweeted a photo of an eye with tears pouring out.
“Unfortunately, despite so much effort by so many people, it wasn’t possible…” the F
