03/06/2021 17:47
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 03/06/2021 19:28
A man died this Saturday when he tried to cross the Bermejo River, in Salta, to illegally enter Argentina from Bolivia.
Days ago, a similar tragedy occurred in the area, when two people died and two babies disappeared after the collapse of a rubber truck carrying 26 passengers.
According to police sources informed
Clarín
, the man who died this Saturday was accompanied by three other people, all members of the same family.
They had crossed to Bolivia to visit the mother of one of them, who is in poor health.
Upon returning to the country, and after consulting locals, they decided to cross the Bermejo River on foot.
According to spokesmen for the case, the decrease in the flow of water led them to
think that they could cross the river by walking and swimming
.
However, one of them
was carried away by the current
.
Two others managed to return to the Bolivian coast and a fourth was able to reach the Argentine side.
That survivor was the one who gave details of what happened to the police authorities, who took a statement this Saturday at the 26th police station in the Salta city of Aguas Blancas.
"One of my uncles and my old man are missing
,
"
said the young man as soon as he managed to reach Argentina, in a video recorded by witnesses that was published by the newspaper El Tribuno.
It is the second tragedy to hit the area in less than a week.
Days ago, a rubber boat that was illegally crossing a group of 26 people down that river sank.
As a result, Nancy Cárdenas (36) and Angel Quiste Santos (26), both of Bolivian nationality, died and
two babies disappeared
.
Survivor accounts indicate that both boys were
swept away
.
At that time, the riverbed of the Bermejo river was particularly swollen due to the intense rains registered in the area.
It is
a "permeable" border
through which people who transit between Bolivia and Argentina often circulate illegally, avoiding any type of control.
"There are people who work on one side but have their whole family on the other. Traffic is fluid. We work to avoid these types of accidents, but it is very complex because it is
a very large area
," explain those who know the area .
LM