Tragedy in Antioquia: a young woman dead and another disappeared after falling into the El Peñol reservoir for a cap

According to the Administrative Department of Risk Management of Antioquia, Dagran, an accident was reported on a jet ski in the El Peñol reservoir. According to him, the fire department confirmed that one person died and another person is still being sought with the help of dives with divers.

Authorities say that a group of friends was leaving at the dam, some decided to take some Jet Skys and during the tour one of the crew members fell off a cap, so they tried to recover it, but at that moment the jet ski turned over.

After the incident, the emergency forces managed to recover one of the women who, minutes later, died in the Nautical Navy. The other young woman is still missing, according to firefighters, they believe that the body is submerged in the reservoir, by the sector of the La Palestina village.

Martha María Vergar, commander of Peñol Firefighters, in a dialogue with Telemedellin, said that since it is not known the exact place, where the missing woman is, it is very difficult to carry out the search. He added that 2 dives have already been made and today work will resume with divers from the fire brigade of Guatapé, Marinilla, El Peñol and Rionegro.

Stefany Garzón, 27, was the young woman rescued and that minutes later her death was confirmed; Saray Narváez Granada, 23, is still missing. It is striking, according to the authorities, that none of the people who were on the motorcycles, nor the deceased woman, wore life jackets. They say, that only 2 of the companions knew how to swim.

Commander Vergara said: “Two of them did not know how to swim (...), one of them lost her life in the reservoir, the other was rescued by the young woman who could swim and they were not given any attention instantly,” she said that the victims were coming on vacation from Medellín, so they would have rented a farm in El Peñol, along with their friends. That is why the authorities are determining, whether the jet ski is owned by any of them, or, is it a vehicle rented from one of the companies that provides the service in the reservoir.

The dam's security conditions, according to official versions, are provided by the River Inspectorate, directly under the Ministry of Transport and National Police surveillance with the Renacer ship, which patrols inside the reservoir.

According to El Colombiano, as of last August, 250 boats and 31 nautical companies were registered, authorized to provide services in El Peñol. But, the number of citizens who buy their personal recreational boat continues to increase, this generates the risk of having captains without sufficient skills to navigate.

These facts had already been reported by Commander Vergara last year, when she recriminated the irresponsible use of boats, small boats and Jet Sky. At that time, he assured, that the situation would be getting out of hand, since the operators responsible for managing water transport inside the dam, are not doing the necessary controls for the movement of boats, as well as for the rental of equipment such as jet skis.

He pointed out that “unscrupulous people” and without knowledge of the handling of these vessels, would be allegedly responsible for several incidents that occurred in 2020 and 2021, some of them serious, where even minors have been caught operating these elements.

In the reservoir they claim for a promise from the Ministry of Transport, which was never fulfilled. The aim was to create a “Harbor Captaincy”, which according to the Decree of Law 2324 of 1984, in articles 19 and 20, in addition to Law 1561 of 2002, states that the General Maritime Directorate, Dimar, has regional and sectional units called Port Captaincies, in the maritime and river ports of its jurisdiction, which shall exercise the functions of the entity in the assigned area, in accordance with the law and regulations.

The idea is that these “Port Captaincies” regulate and monitor water sports, tourist movements on boats and the water vehicles owned by visitors and/or owners of land near the reservoir.

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