Tragedy at Lake Cardiel de Santa Cruz: four kayakers died and a baby was miraculously saved

02/28/2021 3:53 PM

• Clarín.com

• Society

Updated 02/28/2021 3:56 PM

Four people died in Lake Cardiel

, near the town of

Gobernador Gregores

, in Santa Cruz, when a strong windstorm turned the kayaks in which they were sailing.

An eight-year-old boy miraculously survived

after being adrift for four hours.

The police had begun the search on Saturday afternoon, after a call alerted that "a family had suffered an accident," according to sources from the force.

The victims are

Daniel Barría

(34), who was the president of the local Deliberative Council, his brother

Javier Barría

(30), a police officer with a fire service,

Elsa Raquel Martínez

(49) and

Marianelle Bosseo

(26).

According to the local newspaper La Opinion Austral, the tragedy was survived by Mateo, an eight-year-old boy, who clung to one of the lifeguards (who would have been passed by one of the victims) and the boy

survived four hours by being shipwrecked in the water frost

.

Those who died in Governor Gregores.

Photo Twitter Weather Sur

After being rescued, he was rushed to the Gobernador Gregores Hospital.

The troops were able to rescue three people who participated in the walk: Claudio Barría, deputy of the Frente de Todos - Daniel and Javier's brother -, Mateo and John Maximiliano Hoffmann.

The accident occurred in the "Bahía El Griego" area on Saturday afternoon, although the search lasted until after noon on Sunday.

Apparently, the weather forecast changed from one moment to another, as is common in those Patagonian latitudes.

A strong windstorm turned the boats

and kayakers fell into the icy waters far from shore.

Meanwhile, this morning, the bodies of Martínez and Bossio were found on the shores of the lake.

Of the other three rescued from the waters of the Cardiel, Hoffmann is the only one who remains hospitalized, "in shock but without risk of life," police sources informed the Télam agency.

Neighbors of Gobernador Gregores, Puerto San Julián and Comandante Luis Piedra Buena met through social networks to collaborate during the early morning in the search that was in charge of local and provincial police and fire divisions, together with the National Gendarmerie.

Condolences for the tragedy of Governor Gregores.

Photo Facebook.

On February 9, the diver and firefighter Barría had participated in the operation that culminated after six days with the discovery of the body of the adolescent Tomás Alegre (17) in the Santa Cruz River, in Comandante Luis Piedra Buena.

"Good luck Javier Barría, proud of you and of all the boys who were trained to help in another way," deputy Claudio Barría had shared during the live broadcast of that search carried out by Tuhora Piedra Buena on the social network Facebook .

Lake Cardiel, with a length of 25 kilometers, has an area of ​​approximately 400 square kilometers and

an average depth of 49 meters

.

Source: agencies.

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