Special rescue teams and doctors from the government of Córdoba began to evacuate a contingent of high school students from Rosario, who remained overnight at the base of Mount Champaquí, after a colleague suffered decompensation and died during a journey to reach the top and another colleague had to be transferred to the hospital in the town of Santa Rosa de Calamuchita for their attention.
The Cordovan Secretary for Climate Risk and Catastrophe Management, Claudio Vignetta, confirmed that the transfer of the 70 students, supported by two aircraft from the province’s Aeronautical Directorate, will take place during the morning and afternoon “if the weather allows it.” and that adolescents who need medical assistance will be taken directly to health facilities in Calamuchita.
The rest will be transported to the town of Atos Pampa, also in the Calamuchita Valley area, to meet again with relatives and directors of the María Madre de la Civilización del Amor School, in the city of Rosario, where the adolescents study, who traveled especially Córdoba after the tragedy.
Regarding the death of the 17-year-old teenager, the official told the TN channel: “We are not sure of any hypothesis, the case is being investigated by the prosecution and we will wait.”
“The contingent of students spent the whole night in a shelter at the base of Mount Champaquí, where at 4 this morning members of the special group of the DUAR, belonging to the Córdoba Police, arrived “to contain the situation” until they arrived. helicopter medics and the rescue began.
“The contingent is at a base in Champaquí with two paramedics who are assisting them. There is very poor communication in the place, but we understand that for the moment they would be fine and would be containing them until the aircraft arrive to be able to transfer them, ”said the official shortly after 7 a.m. in statements to the DoceTv channel.
Vignetta remarked that during the day on Thursday there had been “prevailing wind and low temperatures”but that the weather conditions “were not entirely unfavorable” for climbing to the top of Champaquí, the highest peak in the province.
The official clarified that “in principle” it would be “a very well organized contingent, with an official registered guide and two paramedics who were registered and had a brief medical history of the people who went up.”
At noon on Thursday, the emergency service received an order for a helicopter because there was a decompensated teenager coming down from Champaquí but, according to Vignetta, the strong winds prevented the aircraft from going down and then they were informed that she had died and they were taking her to the base of the hill.
In the afternoon, there was another notice that another member of the contingent also had symptoms of decompensation and that “he was going to be taken down by some locals, together with the volunteer firefighters from Yacanto and they arrived at the Santa Rosa de Calamuchita hospital at approximately 2 in the morning and he is being assisted.”
Given this situation, it was decided that two aircraft take off once dawn, with doctors and rescuers. “We have dispatched at around 11 pm a special group from the DUAR that arrived at the shelter at 4 am to contain the situation until the doctors arrive by helicopter and we are going to start the rescue,” Vignetta said.
The Champaquí hill is located in Pampa de Achala and the great mountains of Córdoba and has a height of 2790 meters at the summit.
“Misfortunes sometimes cannot be foreseen,” said the deputy director of the Rosario school
The deputy director of the María Madre de la Civilización del Amor school, Cristina Jerome, assured that “misfortunes happen and sometimes they cannot be foreseen” when referring to the death of a student from the Rosario institution after suffering a decompensation on an excursion to the hill Champaquí, in Córdoba, and said that the trip takes place every year and the students were in medical condition for the ascent.
“Misfortunes happen and sometimes they cannot be foreseen; what happened to the boarding school student apparently has nothing to do with that of the student who died. It may be appendicitis, she has similar pain,” Jerome said in dialogue with the TN signal , when referring to another adolescent in the group who was transferred to the Santa Rosa de Calamuchita Hospital.
Jerome maintained that the student “died from a decompensation,” and the other student “was hospitalized for abdominal pain and is being evaluated.” Likewise, he explained that the contingent traveled with the director of the secondary school, ten teachers, and a qualified guide and a paramedic were hired, and that a legal representative is on site. He also indicated that the adolescents had the medical records that were delivered by their parents before starting the excursion.
“There is no school activity that is carried out and authorized by the Ministry of Education if there is no medical record that the parents deliver,” he said, insisting that “what happened to the student could have happened to her in another activity,” with what which “is not something that one can prevent”.
“I don’t know if it’s because of the effort; I’m not a doctor; I don’t want to disrespect the family, but misfortunes happen and sometimes they can’t be foreseen,” he said. On the other hand, he reported that the students slept in the shelter, as planned, “in places prepared to receive them” and assured that the school director warned him that helicopters are going up to evacuate the boys who need it.
