“For me, it’s a miracle.” On July 7, an 8-year-old boy fell more than 100 meters into a crater in the Galapagos Islands. Slightly injured, but alive and well, the French national is slowly recovering from the accident. His father, Jérôme Devosse, testified into the RTL microphone.
“It’s an unforgettable vacation, but not how we imagined it (…) We could have left with only one child and our lives ruined,” says the father.
“There is no barrier”
The tourist gave more details about the circumstances of the accident. While on their way to a turtle farm, they were given a tour of the two craters of Los Gemelos. A very touristy place frequented by hikers, but whose safety leaves much to be desired. “The road is two meters from the edge, there is no barrier, there is nothing”, the father gets angry.
The fall, Jérôme Devosse did not witness directly. He heard “a scream” and another tourist warned him about the fall. Axel would have “jumped as if he were in a pool”. At that moment, for his father, the worst was certain.
“When it fell, I was sure it was dead,” he says.
“Total Blackout”
Hopes were dim, but a rescue operation was quickly called. After what seemed like an eternity to Jérôme Devosse, the firefighters arrived on the scene, in about thirty minutes. Although he insisted by phone that a helicopter be dispatched at that very moment, his interlocutors replied that the firefighters had to decide on the spot.
“I was furious with this procedure,” he recalls.
The rescue was very difficult due to the topography of the area. It was the drone of a Brazilian tourist that unlocked the situation.
Once out of the crater, Axel was transported -conscious- to the Republic of Ecuador hospital on the island. On the spot, the doctors detected a fracture of the scapula and clavicle, but did not have the equipment to rule out a brain hemorrhage related to the crash. After a long journey in ambulances, boats and private planes, the boy was able to be repatriated to the mainland for further examination. Therefore, the hypothesis of internal bleeding was ruled out.
Ten days after the traumatic accident, “Axel is much better.” His father is now considering discharge from the hospital and returning to France in the next few days. Difficult to say if the young man is marked by the event, according to Jérôme Devosse: “he forgot, he has a total blackout”.
Source: BFM TV
