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Survivor denounces boat involved in fatal San Andrés accident resumed operations days later
🇨🇴 Colombia /Crime & Justice

Survivor denounces boat involved in fatal San Andrés accident resumed operations days later

From El Tiempo · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • A survivor has accused the boat involved in a fatal accident in San Andrés, which killed two women, of resuming tourist operations just days after the tragedy.
  • The accident occurred on June 10 when a large speedboat collided with a smaller tourist boat carrying 14 people, including a family from Boyacá.
  • The survivor claims the two men operating the speedboat were released, and the vessel was back in service while the family was still arranging funerals for the victims.

A survivor of a fatal boat accident in San Andrés has leveled a serious accusation: the vessel involved in the tragedy that claimed the lives of two women has reportedly resumed tourist operations just days after the incident. The family of the victims is questioning the actions of the island's authorities.

Kevin Youry González Aponte, who survived the collision and lost his mother and grandmother, stated that he witnessed the speedboat that caused the accident back in service on Sunday. This was the same day the caskets of his mother, Zonia Yaneth Aponte Rincón, 53, and grandmother, Gabrielina Rincón, 74, were being transported from San Andrés to Boyacá for their funeral.

We don't understand what is happening with the island authorities in our case, but the two men who were on the boat and caused the tragedy were released, and the powerful vessel that killed my grandmother and my mother, the day we left, that is, Sunday, was already working as if nothing had happened.

— Kevin Youry González AponteSurvivor's statement expressing disbelief and frustration over the boat resuming service after the fatal accident.

"We don't understand what is happening with the island authorities in our case, but the two men who were on the boat and caused the tragedy were released, and the powerful vessel that killed my grandmother and my mother, the day we left, that is, Sunday, was already working as if nothing had happened," González Aponte told EL TIEMPO.

The tragic collision occurred on June 10 near the navigable channel of San Andrés. According to survivors, a large, fast speedboat struck a pontoon, a small tourist boat carrying 14 people, including five members of a family from Boyacá. The impact was so severe that the pontoon split in two, resulting in the deaths of Gabrielina Rincón and Zonia Yaneth Aponte due to their injuries. The family had reportedly saved for a year and a half to fulfill a long-planned dream trip to the archipelago.

That day we were happy. We wouldn't trade places with anyone, but from one moment to the next, everything was chaos and panic.

— Kevin Youry González AponteDescribing the sudden shift from happiness to panic during the accident.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by El Tiempo in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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