Work continues to search for the missing child under 17 years of age in the Cauca River, in southern Antioquia

The mayor of the municipality of Venice (southwest of Antioquia), Óscar Sánchez, reported that, early this Tuesday, the authorities will resume the work of searching for the 17-year-old who is missing after being dragged down the Cauca River on the afternoon of this Monday, March 14.

According to the local president, the events took place on the banks of the bridge in the village of Bolombolo, over the La Marvalle sector, where the teenager and three other minors were bathing in the tributary, as is customary in that area due to the proximity of the houses to the river.

Although the municipal council for Risk Management immediately alerted the municipalities that were downstream such as Bolombolo, Concordia, Anzá and Santafé de Antioquia after the emergency was announced, as the Semana magazine was aware, the work of finding the child could not be continued on Monday afternoon because had begun to get dark.

The mayor of Venice informed the same media that, from the morning of Tuesday, the work of searching for the young man would resume, but this time, with the support of boats, fishermen and inhabitants of those municipalities in Antioquia, in addition to the relief agencies.

“We are very sorry for what happened. The municipal government, the police inspector and the commander of the district activated the alerts with the Municipal Risk Management Committee and the report was given to DAGRAN,” Sánchez told the Bogotá media outlet.

For now, as the magazine Semana learned, the minor's family is receiving support from the authorities, while the search works are progressing. “The police inspectorate is accompanying the family and coordinating actions,” concluded the mayor of the municipality of Venice, according to what was reported by the same media outlet.

Although the first rainy season will officially begin this Tuesday, March 15 - as announced in the previous days by the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (Ungrd) -, the entity also reported that, due to the rainfall that has occurred in the country during the beginning of the year, between January 1 and January 11. March, 7,478 families affected by the rains were registered.

According to the report of the National Crisis Room of the Ungrd, during that time, 386 events were recorded in 208 municipalities in 21 departments of the country, with the most affected being Cundinamarca, Antioquia, Cauca, Huila, Tolima, Chocó, Nariño, Risaralda, Valle de Cauca and Santander.

Against this background, UNGRD called on all Risk Management entities in the 1,120 municipalities in the 32 departments of Colombia to implement contingency plans in their territories, in addition to continuous monitoring and monitoring, in order to avoid emergencies due to the first rainy season of the year.

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