A 16-year-old boy and a 19-year-old boy have been wanted
since Sunday when they disappeared after being swept away by the current in two different sections of the
Mendoza River.
Police personnel, firefighters and rescuers continued this Tuesday with the operation by land and also by air, with drones.
As explained by one of the agents in charge of the operation at the Cipolletti dam, the tasks resumed this morning "in one of the parts where the water has now gone down."
"Yesterday three kilometers were swept with three brigades and drones and the results were negative. Last night it rained and that made the tasks difficult, but now the water has gone down a little," the agent commented to the
TN
channel , around 10 this Tuesday.
The missing young people
have no connection
with each other and each episode occurred in different places.
One of them, the 19-year-old, was lost when he fell around 4 p.m. near Carril Chimbas, in Finca Caballero, in the town of
Tres Porteñas, in San Martín.
"The young man's brother-in-law stated that he was bathing in the Mendoza River and
was lost to sight as a result of the river flooding
," the police said.
Meanwhile, the other wanted young man is 16 years old and disappeared shortly before 6 p.m. in the same Mendoza River, where he was bathing near Route 82, in the town of
Luján de Cuyo.
The emergency number 911 was alerted that the minor had been swept away by the river.
These two cases became known a few hours after the death of another 19-year-old young man, who worked in a rafting company and drowned after being swept away by the current, also in Luján de Cuyo.
The Government asks to take precautions when bathing, especially for tourists who arrive from different parts of the country.
Photo: Orlando Pelichotti / Los Andes
Witnesses at the time stated that the young man
lost his balance and fell into the water
in the middle of one of the usual activities he carried out at work.
Minutes after being swept away by the current, his body was found near the Cacheuta Hanging Bridge.
The accident occurred while the boat was moving at high speed due to the current of the Mendoza River.
The boat finally turned around.
Agents from the provincial police and firefighters from the central headquarters arrived at the scene, and a helicopter manned by personnel from the Police Aviation Corps was used.
It was from that aircraft that police agents managed to find the victim, near the
Álvarez Condarco hydroelectric plant.
Emergency crews performed CPR on the young man as soon as they managed to get him out of the water, but he eventually died.
The flow of the river increased significantly in the last hours, after the General Irrigation Department
opened the gates
of the Potrerillos Dam.
The Government had warned of this situation and asked for great caution.