At the time of the incident, a group of 30 people were having lunch in this place, when the second floor fell away.
A lunch ended in tragedy in the island area of Cartagena, after the second floor of a restaurant on the beach of Punta Arena, located on Tierra Bomba Island, collapsed while a group of tourists were having lunch there.
The collapse left 15 people injured, including two women with fractures requiring surgical intervention.
According to testimonies, the accident occurred when 30 members of a motorcycle club from Barranquilla were in the restaurant enjoying a day out.
Minutes after the first lunches were servedthe wooden floor suddenly gave way, causing people to fall from the second level.
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“Suddenly a corner of the floor, which was made of wood, collapsed. A colleague fell on her feet and suffered a spinal injury. There was panic, we were all piled on top of each other,” Rafael Landero, one of the affected visitors, told La FM.
According to Landero, The emergency was initially attended to by the sector’s lifeguards, who helped transport the injured to the Bocagrande Hospital.
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“Of the 30 people we traveled, 15 were hospitalized. “Three women are still under observation, two in Cartagena and one transferred to Barranquilla due to the severity of their injuries,” he said.
Among the most seriously injured is Mailin Luna, who suffered a spinal cord injury and remains under medical observation, and Felicita Esther Ramírez Ruiz, transferred to a care center in Barranquilla for a fracture.
In addition, Landero, a member of the group, stated that the owners of the establishment have assumed the medical and lodging expenses of the victims. “The owners of the place have been attentive all the time, we cannot complain. “They have covered the care and accommodation costs of those who could not return immediately,” he said.
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However, the event brings to the table the debate over the safety of tourist constructions on the beaches of Cartagena, where several wooden structures function as restaurants or improvised viewpoints.
From the Administrative and District Department of Health (Dadis) they reported that the medical teams through Crued activated monitoring and accompaniment to the injured.
When consulting the Ministry of Tourism, as well as the Cartagena Risk Management Office, they have not responded as to whether investigations are being carried out to determine the causes of the collapse and verify whether the establishment had the required permits and technical reviews.
“This could have ended in a greater tragedy. Authorities must review who authorizes the construction of two-story wooden structures in coastal areas”, questioned Landero.
The case, according to the victims of this incident, highlights the need for greater surveillance of the tourist infrastructure in the island areas of Cartagena, where every weekend hundreds of visitors enjoy restaurants and excursions without knowing the structural state of the places that receive them.
Source: Integrated Information System
