Press release PR.RPU. P001.R01 - 2012-06-16 - No. No. 047

Email to a friend   Print

Three park rangers, a firefighter and a police officer found him at 08h00 today, after 5 days of intensive search.

Felipe Bravo Chilean tourists, lost in the Galapagos National Park for 5 days was found alive at 08h00 today, 3 km from the camp, in the dry zone, northwest of Santa Cruz Island, by a search party formed by three guards, a firefighter and a police officer following a trail found yesterday afternoon.

Based on the strategy quadrants equidistant points raised by the Galapagos National Park Service and following the tracks left by the Chilean, the search began operating from 03h00.

At approximately 07.30, when they went on the trail, 2.5 miles from camp, hunt group heard a scream and turned to that direction and began to rake the area, until the cry of "help" warned the proximity of Felipe Bravo.

A ranger Milton Calva, a member of the group who spotted him standing next to some trees and matazarno muyuyo (native plants), to hold embraced him, for he was weak after five days lost within the protected area, and laid him with on the shirts of the wardens.

The young man excited to see their rescuers told them the previous evening had heard the cries of the search teams, so he decided to stay in one place and retrace their footsteps.

Felipe Bravo, survival skills, cut cactus leaves which are then crushed and extracted the juice through a straw improvised with a part of a pen, which used to fill a large plastic bottle, which served as a source of hydration.

According to Roberto Jimenez versions of rangers, part of the group who found it, Felipe Bravo had recorded this experience in several sheets.

Once you know the find, the helicopter picked up a medical DGNP to go to the area and returned to Felipe to Puerto Ayora, where he waited for his mother, along with the authorities of the GNP and an ambulance to take him to hospital to receive care.

Philip's mother, Maria Rodriguez, could not contain his excitement to express the gratitude I felt for the efforts invested by the Ecuadorian State and that while preparing for the worst, he never lost faith. "The smile returned to my face, I am extremely happy and grateful for all this," he said.

From the second day of loss, is active in the Galapagos Emergency Operations Committee of the Canton of Santa Cruz, where it was established that the GNP would raise the strategies and methodologies to follow in the search, according to previous experience in similar jobs. The technique implements tools used geographic information system, radio, GPS, etc.., But above all the skill of rangers who know the area.