23/07/2026 03:37 - Actualidad
In a day that will be etched in the memory of the rescue teams, four miners who remained trapped for three nights under an extreme snowstorm in the Argentine province of Catamarca were found alive. The miracle occurred at the Salar del Hombre Muerto (Dead Man's Salt Flat), located in the remote department of Antofagasta de la Sierra, at over 4,500 meters above sea level.
To understand the magnitude of this event, it is important to note that the Argentine Puna is an elevated plateau similar to the Tibetan Plateau, characterized by extreme aridity and freezing temperatures. The storm hit the area with temperatures dropping to -30 degrees Celsius and winds exceeding 140 kilometers per hour, burying the truck they were sheltering in under four meters of snow. However, hope, human ingenuity, and teamwork triumphed over adversity.
According to official sources reported by Infobae, when the fuel ran out and the Starlink satellite signal was lost, the miners faced their most extreme dilemma. They knew that if they stayed inside the vehicle, which was two meters high and being rapidly covered by snow, no rescue team would detect them. They made a brave decision: step out into the open and light a fire.
Two of them stayed near the truck, while the other two went out to find a signal with a satellite phone that had only 1% battery left. Alfredo Medina, a volunteer firefighter from Santa María, told TN that one of the miners walked during the three nights in search of help. When the 'whiteout' (a severe snowstorm where visibility is reduced to zero) intensified, this man buried himself in the snow to survive. 'He had those survival skills, which is what made him survive all this,' Medina explained.
The rescue operation mobilized around 60 people, 5 bulldozers, 10 trucks, and an ambulance. Participants included firefighters, the Provincial Highway Department (Vialidad Provincial), the Municipality of Antofagasta de la Sierra, police officers, and workers from mining companies like Río Tinto and the construction company Guido Moguetta.
The team also managed to rescue families of tourists who had been stranded in El Peñón, a small village in the region. Among them were a family with children aged 5, 10, and 12, and another with a months-old baby. The general secretary of the Argentine Mining Workers Association (AOMA), Gustavo Molina, confirmed to El Doce that the miners are 'lucid' and recovering from hypothermia at the hospital in Antofagasta de la Sierra.
For the rescuer Alfredo Medina, it was 'a miracle with a happy ending' in one of the most hostile environments in the country.
Alfredo S. Quiroga
