QCOSTARICA — In challenging situations, like the recent plane crash in the Escazú mountains, they go above and beyond to provide assistance and support to rescuers and families of the victims.
They are the baqueanos. A popular term that resonates strongly every time an emergency occurs in mountainous or difficult-to-access areas.
A baqueano, baquiano or vaquiano, as defined by the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), is a person experienced in roads or trails, and who acts as a guide to navigate them.
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Beyond that definition, with knowledge and expertise, they are real allies for the Cruz Roja Costarricense (CRC) – Costa Rican Red Cross or the Bomberso (Fire Department) in entering disaster sites where the difficulty in reaching and rescuing victims is the norm.
One of the most recent testimonies is the crash at Pico Blanco peak, in Escazú, when, on Monday, for reasons under investigation, a Cessna 206 crashed into the mountain and took the lives of 5 people (two crew and three passengers). One person survived.
Read more: Plane crash in Escazú mountain leaves five people dead and one survivor
With the support of other private aircraft, the crash site was quickly located, but, access would not be easy and it was projected that it would take several hours to reach the site of impact to rescue any survivors.
In addition, the weather conditions and poor night visibility made the operations uphill. It was a race against time to reach the site as soon as possible.
Thanks to the efforts of the baqueanos, who knew the conditions of the mountain like the back of their hands, in the darkness of the night it was possible to reach the site of the crash and confirm that Paola Amador, 31 years old, was alive.
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The baqueanos were key in this case to complement the efforts of the Cruz Roja and Bomberos search and rescue teams.
A group of baqueanos, called Ayuda Humanitaria y Búsqueda Aserrí, (Aserrí Humanitarian Aid and Search), played a fundamental role in supporting the rescuers. In addition to locating the point of impact, they worked together to ensure that first responders were able to arrive at the location and safeguard the area.
“We are people who, logically due to our geographic location, know a little about that place. Literally, we were the first to enter that area on the Tarbaca side, while all the others were entering from another place. Due to a situation of (GPS) coordinates, we were not the first, but we were among the first to arrive at the scene,” explained Tony Guerrero, one of the baqueanos.
“We traveled almost 8 hours (through the mountains) even though we are familiar with the area. The GPS gave us the location and the coordinates were not adequate, which made us lose valuable time,” Guerrero said, adding that they provide support in cases at the local and national level.
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Bryan Cascante, another of the baqueanos who managed to find Paola Amador alive, said that in this particular case the mountainous area is also inhabited by pumas and coyotes. He also explained that at night it is extremely easy to lose track of where one is. All of this comes together to make the rescue process highly complex.
“At night the rain is very strong and during the day the fog is very dense. The person (rescuer or survivor) also faces low temperatures. Turning around and knowing that she (Amador) was asking for help was heartbreaking. If we had not located her, she would not have survived the night due to the cold and the injuries,” Cascante commented, referring to the rescue of the only survivor in the crash.
Not only in this case did the baqueanos play a crucial role. They did the same in other similar emergencies and even in the location of bodies in case of homicides.
One of the examples was the discovery of the remains of the young Allison Bonilla, who was murdered in March 2020 in Cachí de Paraíso, in Cartago, at the hands of a neighbor.
After months of searching and anxiety, Bonilla’s remains were located in September 2020 in a clandestine dump in the area during a search carried out by baqueanos.
Read more: Allison Bonilla case: Remains found in clandestine dump are Allison’s, confirms OIJ
In the case of Monday’s crash, according to the official flight log, detailed by Civil Aviation, the plane was flying between Barra de Tortuguero and Tobias Bolanos International Airport in Pavas. Due to bad weather, it was diverted to Juan Santamaria International Airport, known as the San José Airport (SJO).
It was at around 12:30 pm when contact was lost with the pilot Mario Miranda and co-pilot Ruth Mora Chavarria. By then the accident had already occurred. Both died in the incident.
As a result of the crash, 3 of the 4 passengers identified as Mario Miranda Ramírez (40), Jean Franco Segura Prendas (28), Gabriela Calleja Montealegre (64), and Enrique Castillo Incera (56), all working for a tourism company, died. Only Paola Amador survived.
Following hours of waiting, it was after 5 am when rescue workers were able to reach the base site to transfer the survivor to a waiting ambulance and rushed to the San Juan de Dios hospital in downtown San José.
The task then focused on the recovery of the body and the investigation by authorities into the crash.
The Cessna 206 aircraft, manufactured by Cessna, has a capacity for 6 occupants, measures 8.6 meters long, and 11 meters of wingspan.
According to Civil Aviation, the investigations into the cause of the crash could take up to 1 year.
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