News about and from Minca

The measure was taken after an inspection visit and verification of the risk scenarios.

The Office for Risk Management and Climate Change of Santa Marta (Ogricc), led by the Samarian Neighborhood Committee (Cobasa) and members of the Magdalena Sectional Red Cross, made an inspection visit to the corregimiento of Minca, for the identification of possible risk scenarios to which residents and tourists could be exposed, in the spas that are in the area.

In the tour, led by the director of the Ogricc, Jaime Avendaño, visited key points such as the resort known as Pozo Azul, where they were identified some areas with high possibility for the materialization of risks, by sudden increases, immersion in dangerous areas and slippery rocks; One of the areas that most concerns the authority on risk, are the waterfalls that are often used by bathers as a springboard to make jumps on the river, without taking into account the high pressures to which the water descends, the depth in those sectors and the risk of losing your life by immersion or receiving blows during the fall ..

Reasons for the visit
The inspection visit took place in the context of the death of a German citizen, for causes that are still a matter of investigation, after he made a jump from one of the waterfalls of the spa and, apparently, collide in his fall with a of the rocks. The body of the victim was submerged in one of the caverns that lie under the surface of the waterfall and found by the entities providing the emergency service, several days later.

Preventive measures
The Ogricc head of the Municipal Council of Risk Management, has informed that preventive measures will be taken in this area, with the installation of signaling in the most dangerous sectors, as well as the anchoring of ropes on the rocks that surround the waterfalls; in case of emergency, whoever is under pressure from the waterfall, can find a support to come to the surface.

Another of the spas visited by the members of this office was Marinca, located ten minutes from Minca's corregimiento, by car and where there is a cascade of greater proportions, which makes a natural pool fall.

The administrators of the place expressed their concern to the authority given that this waterfall is being used arbitrarily by bathers, to climb without any elements that guarantee their safety and without prior authorization. There, several signage will be installed with the precautionary measures and some recommendations to enjoy the bathing areas in a safe way, according to what was explained by Jaime Avendaño, director of the Ogricc.