Readers might remember the accident last month when a man fell down a well attempting to retrieve his dog. Well, there have been developments.

The family and locals consider that the accident, “could have been avoided” if the well had been fenced in and sealed”.

The Vélez-Málaga Town Hall discussed the situation in a recent Plenary Meeting of the Town Council, whilst they wait to see if the family is going to persue a legal course of action.

In the Meeting it was unanimously approved to suggest the Junta to oversee and carry out inspections of unsealed wells. An opposition party (AxSí) want them to better control drilling within the municipality. Bear in mind that the Junta is controlled by the PP, which is the same party that governs Vélez-Málaga.

Following the discovery of the body, the area was cordoned off with a police tape and metal & plastic fences erected around the entrance to the well. Locals have been very vocal on social media, expressing indignation that the well was not covered over nor had any signs warning of danger. Some of the sentiments expressed was that it was “the height of carelessness, indifference and negligence.”.

The well is located on a private property. The Town Council, governed by a coalition arrangement (PP & GIPMTM) claims that they are reviewing their records because the owner had been, “required to act on several occasions.”

However the spokesperson for AxSí, José Pino, formerly asked Mayor Jesús Lupiáñez in writing about the Town Council’s connection with the plot, since, despite being private, it is used as a free, parking area and is frequently cleaned for this purpose.

In a written response Mayor Lupiáñez disassociated his administration from the land stating that “there is no contractual agreement for the use of this plot.”

The opposition isn’t buying it, pointing out, “The City Council does not have any agreement to use the plot, yet despite this, it has cleared the plot of weeds , and used it as public parking.” The Spokesman asked sarcastically, “Do the rest of the private plots also deserve to be cleaned by the Town Council for free?”

Consequently, the opposition parties (AxSí, PSOE and Vox) are demanding an urgent investigation into what happened and that such a process should not end in silence.

Lastly, it appears that the Seprona Environment Department belonging to the Civil Guard had warned the Town Hall about the existence of the well long ago, yet none of the sucessive municipal administrations had done anything about it.

For his part, the Mayor said in the Plenary Meeting that, “from the first moment he became aware of the existence of the well ‘preventive measures’ were taken, always respecting the judicial investigation on the ground.” He added, “Once it was done, the hole was completely sealed.”

A local company, Carburantes Clavero, had sold the plot to a construction company in 2005.

Carburantes Clavero went on social media to state, “First of all, we deeply regret the tragic death of David Ruiz Hierrezuelo, after falling into a well that was not properly sealed. We share the pain of his family and friends in these difficult times.”

Their communiqué went on to say, “On the other hand, we wish to clarify that, contrary to what has been spread across several social-media networks, the land where the accident occurred does not belong to our company. It was sold to a construction company from Málaga in 2005 and, currently, it belongs to a bank.”

Editorial comment: a bank! We all remember that following the 2008 Crash when banks repossessed thousands of flats because the owners could no longer meet mortgage payments, they refused to pay the the block community fees. I hope the family sues the bloody socks off the bank!

(News: Velez-Malaga, Axarquia, Costa del Sol, Malaga, Andalucia)

Keywords: Open Well, Fell In, Rescue Dogs, Died, Town Hall, Land Owner, Bank

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