Fatal excursion in Ushuaia: the cause of death of the tourist was known

2021-04-06T18:31:30.005Z

The victim was the Necochense public accountant Carla Ferrelli (28). They investigate if there was negligence of the company.

04/06/2021 15:20

Clarín.com
Society

Updated 04/06/2021 3:20 PM

The preliminary result of the autopsy confirmed what they suspected: the tourist Carla Ferrelli (28) died of cardiorespiratory arrest due to

decompensation

due to

hypothermia

, as a result of the low temperatures in the place.

Carla had traveled to Ushuaia with a friend and on Saturday they decided to take an excursion to

the Ojo del Albino glacier

, after about 20 kilometers of walking up to 900 meters above sea level.

The young woman, a public accountant from Necochea, made the first leg of the excursion but began to feel bad during the descent.

To carry out the crossing, Ferrelli had hired a licensed company.

It was at Best Tour Patagonia, although the operator in charge of the service was the agency Ushuaia Blanca SRL, known as Tierra del Fuego Aventura.

Prosecutor Nicolás Arias requested that an investigation be initiated for "

investigation of causes of death

" to the investigating judge María Cristina Barrionuevo.

They will try to determine if there was negligence in the rescue.

The route to the Ojo del Albino Glacier has about 40 kilometers in total.

The truth is that, this Monday, at least 15 people testified at the police headquarters to explain the rescue procedure that ended with the tragic outcome.

It was this Saturday, around 6 pm, when they contacted the agency to inform them that "

a girl was feeling bad and had trouble getting off

As confirmed by Tierra del Fuego Aventura, "the protocols were activated to rescue the young woman and evacuate the rest of the group," four other people (including Carla's friend) who had descended alone to look for a cell phone signal to ask for help. .

The guide, Carlos Nicolás Huglich, remained with the young woman at all times.

The owners of the tour operator stated that they "gave notice to the Ushuaia Relief Commission to request assistance" at that time.

However, in the statement of 12 members of the area, they stated that "they did not go to the place because the company reported that they would carry out the maneuver with their own group," sources of the investigation confided to

Télam

Carla Ferrelli was from Necochea and lived in Tandil.

Always according to the rescuers' account, it was not until 22:00 when that private operation was frustrated that they asked for his intervention again.

But, when they arrived at the place, the guides and the owner of the agency were carrying out resuscitation tasks because Carla no longer had vital signs: she

suffered a cardiorespiratory arrest at the height of Laguna Esmeralda

, when there was still more than half of the way to go. finish the trail.

The commission staff had arrived at the site where the victim was, 30 minutes after midnight.

At two in the morning on Sunday, personnel from the Ushuaia Special Services Division declared the death of Carla, who did not respond to two external defibrillator discharges, after three hours of resuscitation maneuvers.

The excursion cost them around

8 thousand pesos

and it would take them between eight and nine hours to walk the 20 kilometers there and back to the Ojo del Albino glacier.

According to the qualifications of the Ushuaia tourism operators, it is

a "high difficulty" excursion

that requires equipment such as "trekking shoes, thermal clothing, raincoat, gloves, hat, backpack", as specified by those who sell it.

The group consisted of five people, a guide and a driver who left them at the beginning of the trail.

Carla and her friend started the walk and toured the Esmeralda Lagoon, the valley and used crampons to avoid the snow until they reached 900 meters above sea level.

As confirmed to

Clarín

, the tour included a hot meal, infusions and water, which the group consumed when they reached the glacier.

The situation, they warned, was complicated during the descent.

Carla

began to feel bad and to feel very cold

v 1.5

The path

Infographic:

Clarín

"At 5:00 p.m., Municipal Civil Defense - aware of the situation of a woman with health problems in the Ojo del Albino - contacted the Tierra del Fuego Aventura company in order to offer collaboration, to which they responded that '

The company was already taking care of it, they didn't need anything external,

' "said the prosecutor Arias through a statement.

That decision led to the investigation to determine responsibilities and establish whether there was “willful or culpable intervention by third parties.” The prosecutor requested the recording of telephone calls to contrast them with the statements of the witnesses.

Also, official information about the weather forecast.

Is that the conditions in the area were not good: in addition to the low temperatures there were heavy rains.

That is why they

want to determine if there could have been negligence in the decision to carry out the excursion despite the weather.

Carla Ferrelli, during a vacation in Chapelco.

Facebook photo

"When we were informed about the situation, we immediately went with the necessary elements to carry out the rescue and evacuation of the rest of the group because we did not know anything else. The only information we had was that there was a person who felt bad and had problems descending. "They explained to this newspaper in Tierra del Fuego Aventura.

Although they preferred not to go into details so as not to hinder the judicial investigation, they trusted: "All the people who were involved in the operation

gave their best

. We did everything and more, each one with the professionalism that their vocation of service deserves

gave more 100 percent so that the outcome was not this

. "

The victim was the daughter of Daniel Ferrelli, a hotel businessman who chaired the Ente Necochea de Turismo (Entur).

EMJ

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