Rescuers are desperately drilling to find a two-year-old boy who has been trapped in a deep well for a week.
Julen Roselló fell down the 250ft borehole while out walking with his parents in a mountainous area near the village of Totalan, northeast of Malaga, southern Spain.
The 25cm-wide waterhole is so narrow, rescuers are not able to get down it so have been forced to use machinery to drill tunnels.
It was announced by officials on Friday that they were just 10 feet away from digging out a deep chunk in the hillside to create a shaft parallel to the one the young boy is thought to be trapped in.
The rescue team had allegedly hoped the drilling would take around 15 hours, but the race against time to save the toddler has reportedly been slowed down by an unexpected difficult terrain.
Video footage shot by firefighters and released by Spanish broadcaster Canal Sur shows a blockage around 70 metres into the well which has stopped services from sending food or water to the child.
No communication has been made with Julen, but the workers are working on the basis that he is still alive.
On Wednesday, several strands of hair found in the mud were revealed to belong to Julen after a DNA test; the young boy's bag of candy was also discovered,
The boy's father, José Roselló, has told local reporters that the family was "not going to give up" and have "hope that he is not dead".
He said: "I feel like we have [been] here for months," before adding: "My wife is broken. We are dead inside. But we have hope for an angel to help us bring him back alive".
Spanish media have claimed that Julen's parents suffered another tragedy in 2017 when their three-year-old son, Julen's brother Oliver, died after suffering a heart attack thought to be linked to a congenital heart defect.
In Spain, locals have gathered to show their support for the family. "Be strong, Julen. Totalan is with you," read one handmade banner hung on the roadside near the rescue site.
Ángel Vidal, the lead engineer overseeing the rescue, said on Saturday the team were still "hopeful" and undeterred by days of no sleep.
"We are incredibly motivated to reach him as soon as possible. We’re not bothered by the hours, the tiredness or the lack of sleep," he said. "We are hopeful that we will reach him as soon as possible and bring him back to his parents."
In a news conference on Friday, government spokeswoman Isabel Celaá said: "We are living some incredibly difficult hours for relatives, friends and neighbours (of the family) and we want to send them our support in this moment."
