A young soldier saved the life of a man who had been trapped in a well in the town of Arroyos de Mantua, in Pinar del Río.
The man, named Lázaro Iglesias Valdés, had gone down into the well, 25 meters deep, to clean it. But once in the depths, “the lack of oxygen caused disorientation and loss of consciousness,” says journalist Lázaro Boza on Facebook.
Those who were waiting for him on the surface realized the danger that Iglesias Valdés was in, and faced with the impossibility of doing anything on their own, due to not having the necessary means and training, they asked the border guard troops for help.
Among the soldiers who responded to the call was the young soldier Abel Martínez Fiallo, from the Special Destination group, who “upon realizing the fatal outcome that awaited Lázaro if he remained at the bottom of the well for 5 more minutes, (…) he made the decision to go down and rescue him.”
Rescue and recovery
“Tied to a rope, the soldier reached the bottom of the narrow cavity,” says Boza in his publication, which does not specify the time of the rescue, although it is dated this Sunday.
“Fighting against the absence of oxygen,” the young man tied Iglesias Valdés to the rope and gave the signal for both to be extracted.
“I did what I had to do in those circumstances. Otherwise a man, a father of a family, would have died,” Martínez Fiallo told the journalist after the rescue.
Thanks to this, the resident of Arroyos de Mantua did not lose his life.
After being extracted from the well, the man was taken to the local medical post to apply first aid and stabilize his vital signs.
The young soldier, Boza says, was also examined by the doctor.
Then, now conscious and stable, Iglesias Valdés was transferred to the Main Emergency Polyclinic of Mantua, the municipal capital, to complete his recovery.
