Fernando Herrera Ramírez remained trapped inside a well he had been working on for more than 24 hours on the morning of Sunday, June 11, before a landslide buried him 15 feet below the surface, some 13 meters deep.
The event, which occurred in the town of Cayo Mambí, in the mountainous area of Holguín, was reported yesterday by local journalists. The provincial telecentre Crystal TV gave him quick cover. After a day of hard and delicate work by the rescuers, the 63-year-old man was released after noon this Tuesday.
In principle, he was assisted by Forces of Command 30, together with the Rescue and Rescue Unit of the Pedro Soto Alba Factory, from the neighboring Moa municipality, although before Sunday night specialists from the Rescue and Rescue Group of Command 25 of the Ministry of the Interior (Minint) of the city of Holguín.
Journalist Loidel Gainzawhich kept reporting through Facebook, showed live images of the operation that kept thousands of people in suspense thanks to the Internet.
Gainza had been the first to report the fact, writing a brief post on his profile: “In the town of Mícara, a 63-year-old citizen was carrying out maintenance on a well where he himself was trapped inside it.”
The work lasted until late at night and another journalist, Yulieska Hernández, described the night scene in this way: “The joint forces of Moa, Sagua de Tánamo and Frank País continue to be activated, giving everything to remove stone by stone the material that separates Ferdinand of salvation “.
Then, oxygen was already supplied to Fernando Herrera; but it was still impossible to get him water or food. The early morning will be unforgettable for him and for those who were part of the rescue operation.
June, at the beginning of summer, is one of the hot months in Cuba. The last few days have also been extremely wet due to rains that have caused flooding and landslides in a large part of the country. The land surrounding the well was soft from the rains, they say.
Shortly before dawn on Monday the 12th, and after the expectation generated by each new movement in order to advance the excavation, witnesses reported by telephone that the rescue forces were in communication with the victim and that he had asked for water.
Relatives and neighbors, doctors and paramedics anxiously awaited the news after each act of the members of the rescue forces, who, aided by an excavator, had reached the walls of the well in the depths. Finally, shortly before 9 in the morning, the specialized personnel managed to reach Fernando.
According to the descriptions, he was seen without blows to the head and arms. The measures and other safety protocols lead to putting on a helmet, as well as securing the neck area.
He drank water before they began to remove him, “very carefully in case he presents a fracture,” they reported from the Holguin telecentre’s Facebook profile.
The television cameraman in Moa, Alexudis Leyet, showed the first images of Herrera, with the red helmet that the rescuers had given him, squatting, clinging to the hose that supplied him with oxygen and with signs of blows to his arms, caused by the fall. He looks at the surface with exhaustion but the joy of being alive prevails.
“The efforts of the rescuers have not been in vain,” Leyet wrote: the fatigue is worth it when 12 meters of rock and earth are overcome on a hard-working man.
Shortly before, the cameraman himself had shared an image of Fernando Herrera Ramírez before the accident, in which his light complexion can be seen, a characteristic that might help him this time. He wears a sweater, jeans and sports shoes, he smokes a cigar. “Good man, special to all his family,” someone writes among the comments.
Half an hour after 1 in the afternoon, Fernando was free from his gruesome night. “Mission successful, Fernando Herrera Ramírez is on his way to the hospital,” cameraman Layet wrote. Many questions remain about his state of health; but Fernando and the specialists will answer them soon.
Cayo Mambí is located about 146 kilometers from the city of Holguín, which is reached by a road that connects the municipalities of Mayarí, Sagua de Tánamo and Moa.
