A 58-year-old Uruguayan man who vanished in the freezing Andes for four months turned from valiant survivor to crime suspect on Monday after authorities revealed he was fleeing pedophilia charges.
Raul Gomez Cincunegui, dehydrated and weighing just more than 40kg, was found by chance on Sunday when helicopters flying overhead saw him sitting next to a shelter at an altitude of 4,500m in Argentina’s San Juan Province.
Gomez survived below freezing temperatures in the snow-covered mountains by eating sugar and raisins left behind by mountain climbers in the Ingeniero Sardina shelter, rescuers said.
Photo: Reuters
IN HOSPITAL
He was flown to a hospital in the capital of San Juan, where his wife and daughter were able to see him after fearing he was dead.
“It’s a miracle. Thank God he’s alive. Now the family is happy. I always knew he was alive,” his mother, Irma Cincunegui, told Uruguay’s La Republica newspaper.
Rawson Hospital spokesman Rodrigo Belert said that Gomez Cincunegui was “evolving well, lucid and in good spirits,” while being treated in the intensive care unit.
He lost 20kg, but did not suffer any broken bones or frostbite from the extreme cold, he said.
However, by Monday, the survivor faced justice again as Chilean authorities requested his extradition after announcing that he is wanted in connection with the sexual abuse of an eight-year-old boy in Santiago.
MISSING IN COURT
Prosecutors first accused him on April 22, barring him from going near the alleged victim or leaving Chile. An arrest warrant was issued on July 17 after he missed a court hearing.
“It is believed that he left Chile through an unauthorized crossing since border police were informed of his ban from leaving the country,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
Gomez Cincunegui had left Uruguay by motorcycle in April on his way to a gathering of bikers in the western Argentine city of Mendoza. He then went to visit relatives in the Chilean capital, where the alleged crime occurred, prosecutors said.
Facing charges, he traveled to the town of Petorca, 170km north of Santiago, and left Chile on foot. After walking for 200km, he got lost in the midst of the Andean winter, relatives said.
He lost contact with his family when the mobile phone connection went dead on a mountain pass between Argentina and Chile known as Paso de los Patos. Relatives subsequently reported him missing on May 11.
“He didn’t think he would walk in the snow,” his mother said. “When he climbed the mountain, there was no snow.”
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also
ESPIONAGE: The British government’s decision on the proposed embassy hinges on the security of underground data cables, a former diplomat has said A US intervention over China’s proposed new embassy in London has thrown a potential resolution “up in the air,” campaigners have said, amid concerns over the site’s proximity to a sensitive hub of critical communication cables. The furor over a new “super-embassy” on the edge of London’s financial district was reignited last week when the White House said it was “deeply concerned” over potential Chinese access to “the sensitive communications of one of our closest allies.” The Dutch parliament has also raised concerns about Beijing’s ideal location of Royal Mint Court, on the edge of the City of London, which has so
RSS