With a lump in his throat and a broken voice, Kevin Alex León, shared his testimony this Tuesday morning, after “being born again”, after the fateful tragedy that occurred on Sunday in the Bayano Cave, when a group of 16 hikers were surprised by a head of water, resulting in the death of three people, including the tour guide and owner of the tour operating company.
Kevin and his partner Diego, both of Venezuelan nationality, were part of this group and it never occurred to their minds that what would be a pleasant moment of distraction turned into an excruciating moment of despair when they were hit by a head of water while they explored each corner of that cave.
From the morning, the group, in which almost all were very young, initially visited the Emberá community where they shared with the indigenous people and had lunch, then, at approximately 1:10 p.m., they went to the Bayano Cave where the The weather was pleasant without any sign of rain, after touring the site for a half hour to 45 minutes, moderate rain was recorded, suddenly they advanced 10 more minutes and heard a great noise.
“The guide tells us to go back because something was going to happen, and when we were returning, when I turned the river took me with an impressive force, that looked like a water park, I thought for a moment that it was part of the attraction, but it was not so. The head of water took us all, only five people who were the ones who were going ahead managed to advance and thank God nothing happened to them, among them was an older person, “he said.
Kevin adds that the helmet was squeezed very hard so as not to lose it on the way, since they were quite insecure, they did not hold very well on the hikers’ heads. “I did not receive blows to the head, thank God, but I swallowed too much water, the person who was with me, who was my partner, he did collide head-on with a stone, the entire front of his head was opened, they grabbed him 18 points, it was too catastrophic, I thought I was going to die from swallowing so much water. I never put down my phone, I think that was also my support, it helped me not to hit the rocks so much, the phone protected me and when we got out of the river, absolutely nothing had happened to it ”.
In addition to thanking God for giving him a second chance at life, this young man credits his partner Diego with being safe and sound, as he strongly took him from the life preserver to help him get to the river bank.
“I had already lost track of time, I have a false leg, I did not have the strength to stand up, I hit many rocks, right now I have an injured leg, thank God free from fractures, I had no broken bones”, Leon continued.
While they were in the vicissitudes to be able to reach the river bank, he affirms that in addition to hearing the impact of the water hitting their bodies, the screams and moans were part of the catastrophic scene. “We were left in the dark, the lanterns no longer worked because they had collided with the stones, I only asked God to get us out of this quickly, I don’t know how long the dragging inside the cave took, but I saw it eternal.”
It should be noted that this group of hikers was not known, all met on the same day of the expedition.
The first deaths reported by the National Civil Protection System (Sinaproc), Kevin revealed that they were a couple.
The first help they received after being dragged into the cave was from the inhabitants of the place. “My cell phone, which was left intact, was the one that helped me locate people in Panama so that they could help us at the Chepo hospital. I saw when they took the dead people out of the river, I saw the rest of the people beaten, my blows were on the spine and the leg, I was conscious. I came out of the river dragged because I couldn’t hold my leg ”.
He revealed that when he checked his cell phone when he left the river, it was about 5:00 pm and the competent authorities took a long time to reach the area.
He made it clear that the operating company had no knowledge or warning about bad weather as far as the weather is concerned, if so, Kevin assures that they would not have made this journey.
This group of young people had among their plans to make another expedition to Chiriquí, unfortunately and as a result of this fact everything was upset.
“We were born again, we were born again,” shouted the survivors of this tragedy that occurred in the Bayano Cave, while they reacted at the Chepo hospital where they received medical attention.
