Havana/A five -month -old baby lost his life on Monday in the El Cerro neighborhood, in Havana, during the heavy rains that whipped the capital. The little boy, identified as Neymar, died drowned after the water broke into his house when a wall was collapsed.
The news was confirmed to 14ymedio by telephone from the funeral home, where the body of the child was veiled. According to one of the employees, the funeral procession left at 8:20 on Tuesday.
The authorities have not yet offered information from the event, and it is some of the acquaintances who have provided details. Thus one of the firefighters who rescued him still with vital signs but that could do nothing to revive him.
According to one of the employees, the funeral courtship came at 8:20 on Tuesday
“Fly a small high, we took you alive but you couldn’t survive, you don’t know how we feel the firefighters we take you,” wrote the young rescuer Enmanuel Díaz Rodríguez. His message was commented by dozens of users, many of whom sent condolences to the family and expressed outrage due to the conditions that caused the fatal outcome.
On the Patria y Vida Facebook page, where reference was also made to the unfortunate event, a comment of the profile identified as Zulema Fuentes offered a more detailed and shocking story of what happened. According to her testimony, she lives in front of the building and witnessed part of the tragedy. The little boy’s mother said, he was picking up the house because everything was getting wet, while holding the baby in his arms. The wall collapsed suddenly, letting a large amount of water in whose strength he snatched the child from his hands. Neymar had turned five months that day. The current dragged not only the child, but also the mother, who took a few moments to join and realize that the little one was no longer.
Fuentes added that the moment was of absolute despair: neighbors, friends and family began to look for it “without control”, between shouts, until a neighbor found him trapped after the door. They immediately applied first aid and, according to the story, the child opened his eyes. He was urgently transferred to the hospital, where he received medical attention, but finally died. This new testimony provides a more vivid image of chaos and the impotence that was lived in critical minutes after the collapse, and highlights the speed with which the tragedy was triggered.
/ 14ymedio
At dawn on Tuesday, the panorama in some neighborhoods gave an account of the virulence of the storm, with furniture destroyed and watered by the streets and demolished walls.
In any case, the fact once again shows the precarious conditions of many buildings in the capital, particularly in neighborhoods such as hill, where accumulated deterioration and lack of maintenance turn each rainy season into an extreme risk period. On numerous occasions, neighbors have denounced leaks, cracked walls and weakened structures without repairs on time.
Havana is a city where heavy rains usually cause sudden floods, especially in low areas and with poor drains. The rain, aged and largely obstructed by huge amounts of solid waste, fails to evacuate water with the necessary speed, which causes accumulations that can reach dangerous levels in minutes. In areas such as Cerro, this problem is aggravated by the proximity of some homes to streets that become authentic rivers during storms.
