October 10, 2022, 23:45 PM
October 10, 2022, 23:45 PM
Four park rangers from the Apolobamba Integrated Management Natural Area (Anmin), in the department of La Paz, they were found alive by members of a community in the area, after being missing for three days.
The executive director of the National Protected Areas Service, Teodoro Mamani, was happy to find the park rangers alive, those who had gone out on September 28 to patrol the area, but since October 7 they lost all communication.
“They were found around 8:00 p.m. on Monday, in the original community of Chuntalaca. They had gone out to patrol an area where there are illegal settlements and illegal gold mining. It is a difficult area, with hills, rivers“, said director Mamani.
“An Air Force helicopter arrived today but due to the conditions it was unable to fly over the area.. Now the helicopter is at the airport of the municipality of Apolo, and tomorrow at 7:00 we will go to retrieve them. The park rangers are resting and will be rescued in the morning,” Mamani said.
The Amnim Apolobamba park rangers who had lost communication since Friday, October 7 are: René Llaves, Nelson Callancha, Francisco Ticona and Ramiro Barrera. They had a scheduled route from the community of Puli and it should have ended in the community of Chuntalaca, in order to verify the state of conservation of the protected area.
The director of Anmin Apolobamba, Ramiro Mayta, who was able to communicate with one of the park rangers, showed his relief, “The area is Yungueño paramo, where there are canyons, fog and it always rains. They left with GPS, cell phones, machetes, dry rations, and considered 10 days of patrolling.with the objective of verifying the state of conservation of the biodiversity of the protected area and verifying human settlements.
“This Friday they told us that they had run out of food, and that they were about to cross the Ñeco River, but on Saturday when we went to look for them, we no longer found them.
“It is a relief for us, for their families, who communicated all the time. The protection area team is made up of 25 park rangers. I want to highlight the work of the park rangers who are the most committed officials, which is sometimes not valued by people, but they put their lives at risk, to conserve the springs, fauna, and floraI am surprised how committed they are, considering low salary and spending 20 days away from their families,” Mayta concluded.
park rangers are stable, exhausted and with calluses, muscle pain, they were fed by members of the community. Tomorrow at 7:00 they expect to be rescued and a more detailed report on this event will be given.
