A Woman Died When She Was Trapped in the Middle of a Flooding Stream in San Luis

A 60-year-old woman died this Sunday when she was trapped in the middle of the flood of the Benítez stream, located in the town of Cortaderas, in the department of Chacabuco, province of San Luis, along with 8 other people who could be rescued in time.

According to what the local media specified, it all began in the afternoon, when the fatal victim and the rest of the people who were in the place, mostly tourists, were enjoying the day in an area called ” Roman Baths ”and were surprised by a sudden increase in the water flow.

After learning of the event, brigade members and firefighters from the San Luis Police traveled there, working with the help of volunteer firefighters from the towns of Carpintería, Cortaderas, Los Molles, Merlo, Naschel, Tilisarao.

Some units of the Provincial Medical Emergency Service (SEMPRO) and baquianos from the surroundings also intervened, thanks to which eight of the people who were dragged by the current were found alive and, later, the body of the woman who died .

In dialogue with the TN channel, Gonzálo Pérez, Chief of the Tilisarao Fire Department, explained that “In just 4 minutes and 30 seconds, the Benítez stream became full, which is located in the town of Cortaderas, on the Comechingones coast ”.

“What the people we rescued have been able to tell us is that it was a normal day in which tourists and residents of the area were enjoying themselves in the water when, suddenly, they began to hear a kind of explosions and garbage began to drop down the stream “, he recounted.

The victim was a veterinary doctor

In this regard, Pérez confirmed that in total there were nine subjects “who got lost” as a result of the sudden increase in the Benítez flow and explained that “at first it was possible to find five of them and, later, another three” .

“The search continued, with the support of the entire regional unit 3 of San Luis, and the body of a lady of about 60 years, from the town of Carpintería, very close to Cortaderas, who was a veterinary doctor, “he added.

The firefighter said that this “is a very calm stream where families from all over the country usually gather when they come on vacation and people take it very calmly” because even “the water in some places reaches your heels”.

“Unfortunately, in the highest localities, in what would be the part of Cordoba, storms arose that ended up causing this important flood to be generated that he took the life of an inhabitant of our province ”, he pointed out.

On the other hand, Pérez assured that in the face of this type of rainfall, the region is usually “put on alert and the different properties enabled for tourism do not allow entry, but this time it did not happen because it was unknown what could happen. ”.

In this sense, he specified that “near noon in Villa de Merlo” some isolated rains were recorded, but he clarified that until that moment they were not so important as to “alert the public and request evacuation.”

Finally, he stressed that the eight people who were rescued were practically unharmed, with the exception of some of them who “had very minor injuries and that as a precaution the ambulance system took care of them at the operations post.”

“We always recommend tourists to be cautious, to go to authorized areas, not to take ascents to the Comechingones mountains if they are not with guides because, although they are natural areas, there are always trails for hiking in the designated places. evacuation and what has happened now does not happen ”, he closed.