MADRID, Spain -- Spanish officials say rescuers are making slow progress in exceptionally difficult conditions to reach a 2-year-old boy who fell into a narrow, deep borehole in the countryside nine days ago.
There has been no contact made with Julen Rosello, who fell into the 110-meter (360-foot) deep shaft, but rescuers believe he is alive.
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Angel Garcia, the leading engineer coordinating the search-and-rescue operation, says work had to stop briefly early Monday to perform maintenance on a drill being used to create a vertical shaft.
Garcia says the rocks are extremely hard and the drill has been working nonstop for many hours.
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The shaft runs parallel to the borehole and aims to go down 60 meters (197 feet) - roughly to where the boy is believed to be.
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The drill has so far reached 53 meters. After that, miners will be lowered down the shaft to dig a horizontal tunnel to the boy's presumed location.