NEWS

Advice from other survivors for children rescued in Colombia


The drama of minors rescued in the Colombian jungle was the latest televised disaster for those torn between life and death. The untouchablesTrapped miners, plane crashes… Those who lived to tell about it tell this paper the scars they left and what can be learned from the worst atrocities.

33 miners were detained in Chile in 2010

“The optimism that made me sane underground helps me now”

Mario Sepúlveda after being rescued in 2010, and covered in the Chilean flag (right), years later

AFP // ABC

After leaving the alien Phoenix capsule that literally brought him back to life, Mario Sepulveda He wrapped himself in the Chilean flag in front of everyone who was there waiting to be rescued. “Super Mario” was one of the 33 miners who were trapped on August 5, 2010 at a depth of 720 meters in the San Jose mine, located in the north of this country. After seventy days of waiting, as I tried different ways to get them to the surface, this union leader emerged from the bottom of the earth and began hugging authorities and rescuers and jumping for joy in front of media from around the world. the world. the world.

The future of each of them was different. Some failed to regain their sanity. Mario confirms that he speaks regularly with eight of them with whom he is friends. He admits that after 13 years he had mixed feelings. grateful to him Rescuebut were disappointed and frustrated by the subsequent treatment which resulted in many miners living in poor conditions.

Sepúlveda lives in the capital with his wife and son, who was born two years after he was besieged. But as if he wasn’t beaten enough, the little boy is autistic in its most severe form.

Marito’s condition was hard to bear, he told ABC, though he adds:The optimism that got me sane underground keeps me going todayThe advice is for the four children who were rescued in the Colombian jungle, 40 days after they went missing. In the first years after the rescue, he received psychological and psychological support, and to this day he is still in therapy. As a cure, he talks permanently with a doctor he actually considers his friend.

motivational speeches

A few months after he left the mine, he reinvented himself in the business and started giving motivational speechesHe recounts his experience and conveys what he considers necessary to carry out any task: optimism, teamwork, and leadership. He also established a foundation in his name and does social work aimed at supporting others in difficult times.

Your family is the most important thing. “It’s my grounding cables, and I’m so afraid of hitting myself and not being able to stop,” he admits.

12 children were trapped in a cave in Thailand in 2018

Don’t blame yourself and always surround yourself with family and friends.

The children after being rescued, and one of them, Prajak Southam, today

PABLO M. DIEZ // ABC

Five years will pass since one of the most difficult and exciting rescue operations in living memory: 12 boys and their soccer coach are missing in a remote cave in northern Thailand, on the Golden Triangle border with Laos and Myanmar (Burma). Surprised by a sudden monsoon rain, Moo Pa (Wild Boars) team members were trapped 600 meters deep and five kilometers from an exit Tham Luang Cave, the main tourist attraction in Mae Sai. The scare was the worst because the kids are between the ages of 11 and 16 and the coach is only 25.

With no food and only drinking rainwater that seeped through the rocks, they survived for nine days until, on July 2, they were found by two expert British divers who had joined the massive search party. Once you find them, the really hard part begins: getting them out of there. Drugged and with their hands immobilized, they were dragged on stretchers by divers who revealed themselves in sections through a maze of tunnels and passages, some flooded and less than a meter wide. For three tense days, it was a rescue movie.

After a week of recovery in the hospital, 13 Wild boar They appeared in front of the journalists who covered the sensational save and showed off not only their good physical condition, but also their footballing skills.

To return to their normal lives, the Thai government protected their privacy, moderated their interviews with the media, and even negotiated with the families for the rights to bring their story to film and television. Through a state official, one of the rescued boys, Prajack SouthamSends a message of encouragement to the children rescued in the jungle of Columbia. Always stay optimistic and don’t blame yourself or anyone else. Nobody wants such an accident to happen,” advises the boy, who is starting his first year of engineering at Chiang Mai University.

The role of the family

Learning from his experience, he affirms that “the family plays a crucial role so that the survivors can overcome the situation.” “Surround yourself with family and good friends who understand you well,” Rescue recommends.

Wild Boars got their lives back and four of them, including the coach, were granted Thai citizenship because they were undocumented refugees from neighboring Burma. But the captain Duangvit Fromthp Dom died suddenly in February at the age of just 17 while studying on a scholarship at a football academy in England. Fate gave him a second chance, but not a third.

A sailing ship in the Atlantic Ocean in 1982

Fear is a deep instinct that helps you endure.

Stephen Callahan after the shipwreck and on his ship decades later

Swing captain

The sea stretches as far as the eye can see, an unforgiving and indomitable space. And in the middle of it is a man drifting alone. By his ingenuity and the little he was able to spare, he tries to ensure that his perseverance, or a miracle, allows him to survive. It’s the actual experience of Stephen Callahanthe protagonist of one of the most remarkable feats of survival and self-improvement in modern history, which occurred in 1982.

«Fear is an omnipresent factor, and it’s the fight instinct or flight instinct that helps you surviveCallahan says. Yet this man, who has braved the ocean’s harshest odds, stresses the importance of hope and perseverance. And he adds: “Under these circumstances, you have the opportunity to reflect and face your failures. This experience gives you the opportunity to live a better life in the future.”

An experienced navigator and ship designer, Callahan survived a full 76 days in the Atlantic Ocean in a miserable lifeboat. The feat came after his 6.5m sailing yacht, the Napoleon Solo, sank during a failed voyage from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean. He was 29 years old. During a storm, a sea creature, believed to be a whale or shark, punches a hole in the ship’s hull. Callahan managed to get into an inflatable rubber boat and drifted 800 miles west of the Canary Islands, but it moved in the opposite direction. «To survive, you need not only food or water. You need materials and tools». This is why he submerged several times to salvage what he could from the sinking sailboat. He collected food, a sleeping bag, flares, and a spear…

Since then, before him, almost certain death: severe dehydration, hunger, cold and the constant threat of sharks. His experience is reflected in the book “Adrift, 76 Days Lost at Sea”, published by Capitán Swing Publishing in Spain.

Confronting the loneliness of the surroundings also means keeping a sense of humor. “It’s not that I laughed the whole time, but some things were funny,” he recalls. “Losing your sense of humor, like losing your identity, is a worrying sign. It shows you’re in trouble.”

notebook

It was a constant in his survival to keep a record. “The most important psychological reason, to keep you focused.” Maintain his sanity by building a routine and exercising his memory. Survival, in Callahan’s words, is a brutal experience of self-knowledge. It is an experience in which emotions are amplified: Ecstasy moments and despondency follow each other with tremendous force.

Not that he wanted to relive it all, as he says today. But he keeps pleasant memories that changed his personality for the better. “Yeah, I miss those moments, those elements of the experience,” he admits. «Although my time at sea was not pleasantMy relationship with the environment has improved, and that’s something very special to me.”

Avalanche in Colombia in 2016

“After salvation, it was God’s will.”

The remains of the crashed plane and Erwin Altomiri in the hospital

Reuters

32 years old Erwin Altomiri He still didn’t fully comprehend that he had seen Death up close on two occasions. The Bolivian survived a plane crash for Chapecoense club in 2016. A few years later, the bus he was riding in fell off a 150-meter cliff.

He remembers telling himself as he slapped his face, “Wake up, Tomery.” The Lamia airliner he was traveling on was heading from Bolivia to Colombia and crashed. 71 of 77 people were on the plane; He was a survivor. Irwin had to recover from some muscle strain and tears, however, and he immediately looked for a way to get back to the airfields and get his driving career back on track. And he repeated: “After salvation, it was God’s will.”

In 2021, he gets a job at Bolivia’s Directorate of Civil Aviation; However, he had to move from the city of Cochabamba to a rural area. Take a bus and remember that the car lost control on the highway, it was going at full speed and the accident was inevitable. Irwin thought he could never be my master again, and he held on to his seat. This event left 21 dead. “I’m not going to die here,” he remembers saying to himself.

Erwin escaped death twice in five years. Since the last incident, he had been looking forward with even greater enthusiasm to become a commercial pilotMeanwhile, he collaborates on building a church in a commune called Chimoré, where he works and gathers resources to provide food for those who need it most.

Escape from death

The double survivor admits that both accidents left him with muscle and back injuries. This past March was the last time Irwin flew an airplane. The thrill of doing so is the same as it was before the accident. However, he is aware of the fear that invades him when riding a bus or any sudden movement. He is getting over this fear little by little and that is why the support of his mother, who was in March this past, has been essential He passed away from covidWhich encouraged him to travel by land and air.

Caring for the body, appreciating the company of loved ones, and not saving feelings for tomorrow, this is the creed in life tomery These are the tips you can share today with anyone who has been in your situation.

See also  Polwart announces a cabinet reshuffle to deal with protests that have already led to more than 25 deaths

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button