An excursion along the coastal path that borders the cliffs in the north of Santander. A group of seven friends, six girls and one boy, who were walking along the Costa Quebrada, a rugged, almost wild area, between the sea and the last livestock farms in the capital of Cantabria, fell into the water through a crack about five meters high when the wooden platform they were crossing gave way under their feet. Only Ainara RV, 19, managed to survive, clinging to some sharp rocks for about 15 minutes. The firefighters who rescued her knew they had to go quickly because there were more people in the water. Also that the sea does not give second chances. “She held on with her nails against the wall. She was hooked. She was a real beast, a cat,” says a firefighter who participated in her rescue.
Ainara, a “very cheerful” and “good student” girl, according to those who know her, is recovering in the Valdecilla hospital. “He is fine, on the ground, and in spirit, well, I imagine he will break at any moment,” they say in his surroundings. Her mother, her aunt, her grandmother and her older brothers have been in charge of wrapping her up and protecting her in the days following the collapse. The lives of his six friends were left in that crack. The bodies of five of them were recovered on Tuesday and a team of more than 120 people searched for almost 48 hours for Elena SP, 19, the only one missing after the fall. The, helped by an underwater drone.
The hikers, between 19 and 22 years old, were all final year students of the higher degree of Technician in Livestock and Animal Health Assistance, at the La Granja de Heras vocational training center, about 15 kilometers from Santander. Except for Lucía SC, 22 years old, who was from Igollo de Camargo (1,500 inhabitants), everyone had left their homes to go to study in Cantabria. Xabier BM, 21 years old, was from Balmaseda (Bizkaia); Eunate HA and Celia LG, both 19, were from Barakaldo (Bizkaia); Lluna VA, 20 years old, came from Almería; and Elena, the one who was missing for two days, was from Guadalajara.
In a matter of days, the survivor Ainara, a native of Elvillar/Bilar (Álava), Elena and Celia were going to Ireland to do an Erasmus scholarship. The rest would get to know the companies where they were going to do their internships. His friend Elena, who loved Cantabria, wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps and study veterinary medicine. The others were closely linked to the world of horses and livestock.
The 112 received the notice of the collapse of the El Bocal walkway, in the center of Monte, at 4:45 p.m. They said seven people had fallen at the same time. The first team of Santander Firefighters – six people and two vehicles, one of them a water rescue – left immediately. Another group of firefighters stayed looking for more material and joined the operation minutes later.
The first firefighters to arrive faced one of the toughest actions of their careers. With the first inspection they knew that at least two of the boys had died. They had Ainara “clinging to the wall.” And they knew there were four other people in the water. They tried to act quickly and wisely. “The priority is the victim, but the rescuer cannot become the rescued,” they reason.
The fall of the walkway revealed a vertical wall of very rough stone. The depth, which depends on the tide, was at that time, with high tide, four or five meters. “The waves were not very big, although they were of a certain size, about three meters, but that coastal area is especially energetic.” “One wall and the other converge and make a siphon, where the water hits with brutal energy,” describes the agent. In this same place, La Vaca Gigante is held, an extreme surfing contest, which is named after a wave, La Vaca, which can reach between six and eight meters in height.
The rescue team believes that Ainara fell into the water and took advantage of a wave to grab onto the rocks and climb a little. In addition to the physical resistance to remain restrained for the 10 or 15 minutes it may have taken to get her out of there with a rescue harness, she needed great mental control. He had seen his friends fall and ask for help, some of the planks of the walkway that had been left loose after the collapse hit him, the water was cold and the clothes for the walk were not the most appropriate. “Falling there and not dying requires a component of luck and very great physical and mental qualities,” the operative values. “It was very difficult to survive,” he adds.
The device, which also included a helicopter, agents from the Local Police, National Police, Civil Guard, Maritime Rescue and Civil Protection, worked together. “The way of acting was ten,” says the agent, who was back on duty this Friday. The search for Elena continued until 11:00 p.m., when conditions were already very dangerous.
“How is it possible?”
Three kilometers from El Bocal, the Fernando Ateca cultural center became a point of care for the families of those affected. Carlos Micó, the director of the center where the victims studied, was there. As they had the family’s documentation and contacts, the National Police agents were able to notify them and identify the bodies more quickly. Micó, who has been divided between supporting the families and an educational community with 600 students and 70 teachers, is now thinking about how to pay tribute to them: “We have a botanical collection, maybe sending some trees, placing a commemorative plaque. They have been very collaborative, supportive girls, linked to the center. There are many emotions, from the parents, from the kids, the teachers, the people in the kitchen, we are all very affected. It is very unfair, you ask yourself: but what is it like? possible?”
This Saturday at noon you could feel the roar of the sea and the blows on the rock under the fallen bridge. In the structure, with the passage now closed by several police seals, stains of red rust can be seen around the points where the screws or anchors go. The coastal path on which the walkway was located is part of a truncated project to make a 10-kilometer walk in the northern part of the city, from the Cabo Mayor lighthouse to Virgen del Mar. It started in 2014, but the neighborhood rejection, who considered it very aggressive for the environment, forced it to be paralyzed. Various conservation and neighborhood groups criticized that it had been done without taking into account the natural passage areas, furthest from the sea, and that some of these walkways, including the one at El Bocal, .
The Ministry of the Environment partially built it and the Santander City Council promised to preserve it once it was delivered, but since it was paralyzed, it was left in a kind of administrative limbo. The Secretary of State for the Environment, Hugo Morán, spoke this week about the “responsibility of the three administrations”, the Ministry, the Government of Cantabria and the Santander City Council, when it comes to ensuring the safety of citizens. The mayor, Gema Igual (PP), has distanced herself from conservation, although the City Council does promote this route as part of the city’s attractions. It has also emerged that, 28 hours before the tragedy, a neighbor notified 112 that . Nobody came to seal it. 112 notified the Local Police, but this police force did not come to check the facility. The City Council has acknowledged that the notice was received and. The investigation, in the hands of the National Police, is judicialized.
In Elvillar, the town of Ainara, they have a bittersweet feeling. “We are happy, but worried about the family,” describes its mayor, Enrique Pérez Mazo (PNV). The councilor of this town of 315 inhabitants located in La Rioja Alavesa says that the family, who ran an agricultural operation, has asked for discretion and to spend these days in privacy. “One day they will appoint a spokesperson,” he predicts. The mayor sends “encouragement” and condolences to the six families of his deceased colleagues. “You have to cover them a little,” he asks.
On Thursday at noon, when the search team had just found the body of Elena, the last missing person, four friends from Santander were cold on a hill, about 200 meters from the police precinct. The group, who had gone to browse, congratulated themselves on the discovery and on the peace of mind of their relatives, who were waiting for news in an orange Civil Protection tent very close by. Immediately afterwards they remembered Ainara. “And the girl who survived? Poor thing!” commented one of them, with the hood of a black sweatshirt pulled tightly against the wind on the seashore. “Now he is going to have to live for seven lives…”
