Wednesday, February 1, 2023 | 4:40 p.m.
One tourist died, another suffered injuries and two were unharmed when they were trapped in the middle of a landslide on the Hielo Azul hill in the Río Negro town of El Bolsón, official sources reported.
The fatal victim was identified as Fernando “Pacu” Dávila, 38 years old and a native of the Santa Cruz city of Caleta Oliva, who worked as a worker at the Provincial Institute of Higher Education (IPES) and as an active member in the sports field, through his presidency at the Peña San Lorenzo in the northern town of Santa Cruz.
Meanwhile, the identity of the injured man, who is 42 years old, is from the province of Buenos Aires and presented multiple injuries, was not reported, Télam reported.
According to sources, the event was caused by a collapse of the ice and stone caves located within the area of the Río Azul Lago Escondido Protected Natural Area (ANPRALE).
It all started on Tuesday afternoon when the request for service was registered as a result of a deceased person and an injury, in the area of Cerro Hielo Azul, due to a landslide.
“Yesterday at 1:30 p.m. they gave us notice from the Hielo Azul shelter that there had been a landslide in one of the caves, that there was an injured person and possibly a person trapped under the rubble,” the main officer of the Volunteer Fire Department told Télam. from El Bolson, Alejandro Namor.
a complicated descent
And he added: “We were clear that the refugee gave the first response with the injured person, a male who was lowered from the cave to the refuge. It must be taken into account that from the cave to the refuge there is approximately an hour’s walk, more to lower it with the board, splint, which takes a while”
Likewise, the official remarked: “Upon being informed, we automatically put the protocol into operation, we met with the Civil Protection of the Province, also with the hospital, with the police and we were lucky to have air resources in the area, which They are operating in the hot spots that remained from the fire in Cuesta del Ternero”.
“Then, it was managed to be able to leave at 2:00 p.m. on a first flight with a doctor, firefighters and civil protection personnel to take the victim who was already in a splint up and take her to the hospital,” said the fire chief of the Andean city.
And he specified: “It must be taken into account that the area where he had to land is an area that is difficult to do so, due to the topography and the winds above.”
Likewise, Namor explained: “It is necessary to emphasize the good predisposition of the pilot for when the coordinates are passed to him so that he can do it, since he has to be an excellent pilot and have a very good predisposition to land in that place.”
It should be noted that if you have to walk from El Bolsón to the place, with mountain people who are used to doing it, it takes between five and six hours.
“If you have to lower the person with a stretcher from there, it takes ten more hours to lower it,” added Namor.
“This rescue was done in forty minutes, the helicopter came down with the doctors and the victim, he was transferred to the hospital and he went up again to bring more personnel from the scientific police, firefighters and mountain rescuers to be able to remove the body that was under the ground. debris,” he said.
Lastly, Namor commented that for all this, “the firefighters who got on the first helicopter trip were on their way to get to the cave as soon as possible to carry out the work.”
“The hospitalized person had some fractures, apparently the collapse affected his side when he was with his partner, who was not injured, nor was the fourth person who was making the excursion to the cave,” Namor concluded.
The total rescue, which began after 2:00 p.m., ended at approximately 6:00 p.m.
