Search continues for girl swept away by a ravine

Santo Domingo, DR — For Rosalinda Santana, what started as a typical workday turned into a nightmare when she received the news that her five-year-old daughter, Yuleili Serrano, had been swept away by the ravine behind her house.

“They called me to tell me my dad was sick. I left work and saw all those people, and I said my daughter died because I’m watching my dad,” he said, dismayed to discover it was his daughter who was in danger, not his father, as he’d been told.

The accident occurred yesterday in the Primaveral sector of Villa Mella, Santo Domingo Norte municipality, around 3:00 p.m., and rescue authorities were already in the area half an hour later.

Santana explained that the girl was accompanied by her other three-year-old daughter, as well as her six-year-old sister and Yuleili’s aunt.

She had never let them be in that place alone because of the risk it represented, Santana said, after clarifying that it was the first time the three girls were bathing there, unsupervised.

“They were bathing when the gully surged up and the little sister had a hold on her, but she couldn’t because she slipped away. The other sister tried to grab her too, but she couldn’t either,” she said, distressed, recalling the incident.

He added that both girls went to inform their grandmother of the incident and raised the alarm among the community residents.

Rescue operation

More than 19 hours have passed since the alarm was raised about the girl being swept away in the ravine. The rescue team has not ceased its efforts, with the sole objective of finding her alive.

“We’ve been working hard since yesterday at 3:30 p.m. without stopping. No one here has slept; everyone here is on alert. Yesterday was complicated by the darkness and a lot of debris, but today, thank God, the yellow teams are already integrated with our public works department, the operational department of the Mayor’s office, and we’re also working with the drones,” said the Mayor of Santo Domingo Norte, Betty Gerónimo.

Despite the forecast for rain in the search area where Infante Yuleili was swept down the Loma del Chivo ravine on Thursday afternoon, rescue operations will continue.

“It will limit us due to the excessively strong flow. We will continue to expand the search; it won’t stop. Rain, shine, or shine,” explained Miguel Marte, municipal director of Civil Defense in Santo Domingo Norte.

Civil Defense units, the National Emergency System 911, the National Police, the Santo Domingo Norte Fire Department, and machinery from the Ministry of Public Works (MOPC) have deployed in the area with more than 100 personnel divided by quadrants.

Regarding Yuleili Serrano’s exact whereabouts, the version they maintain is that she could be in the lowest part of the ravine.

“There’s a kind of bottleneck here with the debris, and it could be in these surroundings,” said Aneudy Rodríguez, superintendent of the Santo Domingo Norte Fire Department.

The accumulation of trash at the site has hampered the search, and equipment such as a backhoe and a mechanical shovel have been used to clear the area.

Family overview

Stunned and searching for hopeful answers about her youngest daughter’s whereabouts, the mother said that, given the situation fraught with intrigue, she only hopes to see her again, no matter what the circumstances.

“I haven’t had any strength, and I ask the Lord to give it to me, no matter what, so I can see my daughter and not have to worry about the fact that she’s going to be suffering,” she said with resignation.

Restless.

Rosalinda Santana stated that none of the members of her home feel safe and that they have all remained in the Villa de los Milagros residential area in Villa Mella, awaiting an update on the search for five-year-old Yuleili Serrano.