JULEN DELAY: Could be another two hours until rescuers reach the toddler

MINERS battling to reach two-year-old Julen Rosello Jimenez will use explosives to break down the last piece of rock separating them from where they believe the boy is trapped.

Guardia Civil spokesman Jorge Martin announced specialists will use, “extreme precision,” to blast through the last remaining centimetres of quartzite – one of the hardest types of underground rock – in the tunnel they are digging to reach Julen.

Once miners break through to the borehole where they believe the boy is trapped at 72-metres deep, Jorge Martin confirmed it will be members of the Guardia Civil who enter the 110-metre borehole to find Julen.

Santiago Suarez, former director of the Asturian Mining Intervention Brigade, told Spanish media specialists working on the tunnel were at a “critical juncture,” and “need to be very careful.”

Suarez explained the hardness of the terrain, which has slowed efforts to dig down to the toddler, may be, “positive,” helping to prevent a collapse.

Specialists miners have been digging for more than 24 hours, using pickaxes and small explosives to carve through the hard rock.