He was the fourth uniformed man who jumped from a height of 450 meters and the only one who did not open the parachute.
Colombia News.
Luis Alfonso Garcés is a Colombian Army soldier who fell to a height of 450 meters after his two parachutes failed him in training, the last of his military course.
This failure occurred on October 9 when he and three other colleagues jumped from the top of a helicopter to achieve their goal of obtaining the title of professional paratroopers. Today, a month after that unforgettable episode for Garcés, the recovered soldier decided to relate how in a matter of seconds, he made the best decisions to save his life.
The parachute accident that left a young Univalle employee unable to walk
First, he said that that day he equipped himself to parachute with a weight of about 20 kilos. The two tools tied to his abdomen and his legs. The aircraft rose to a height of 1,500 feet (three times the height of the tower Colpatria Bogotá, the highest in the country).
Finally they jumped into the void from a height of 450 meters and the unexpected happened for Luis Alfonso, his parachutes, unlike the rest of his teammates, did not open as they should be and from that moment the most eternal minutes of his entire life began for him. existence.
Despite the imminent danger in the air, tranquility seized the soldier Garcés and with a cool head he began to apply what he had learned in the course.
The first thing he did in the air was to shake off the heavy luggage. Then, he grabbed the risers, clenched his legs, waited for the blow, and made the complexion of the fall. All of this happened between 15 and 20 seconds.
At that time, he made the best decisions to save his life: «He squeezed his legs, fell on the soles of his feet, made contact with his calves, then his thighs, hips and buttocks until finally he made contact with the ground with your back muscle.
Thanks to this method and the help of God, as he himself affirms, he was able to survive the heavy fall.
After the fall, soldier Garcés never lost consciousness, although he thought the worst since blood was coming out of his mouth: “I thought it was burst inside,” he said.
“I felt that I was alive, I did not feel my leg, I had respiratory problems, I had chest problems, I spat on my hand, I saw blood, I thought I was burst inside,” he said.
Wounded, the soldier was taken to the Military Hospital in Bogotá where the doctors on duty treated and operated on him. A month after that failure, Garcés began intensive therapy to walk again. He is still recovering.
During his stay in the hospital, General Eduardo Zapateiro visited him to impose the wings of a military paratrooper.
Now, Lewis He hopes that it becomes clear why the parachute did not open at the right time.
Cover photo: @hospitalmilitarcentraldecolombia
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