This is the moment residents zipline across a river almost five years after a storm toppled a wooden pedestrian bridge linking two cities in north-central Colombia.
A man could be seen ziplining over the Chicamocha River while a child sat around his lap.
A young girl dressed in her school uniform was seen struggling with the zip line.
The walkway collapsed after rains in Molagavita destroyed the walkway in 2019.
Judge Edward Avendaño previously ordered the Santander state government to work with the municipality of Molagavita and the Risk Management Office to build a military bridge.
However, residents are waiting for the work to begin.
A schoolgirl ziplines 328 feet over the Chicamocha River to reach her school, almost five years after a storm knocked down a pedestrian bridge that connects the rural neighborhoods of Felisco and Palmas de Felisco in Molagavita with Río Chico, a sector of the municipality of Mogotes where the school is located. it’s found
Residents are often seen using a zip line to travel from the rural neighborhoods of Felisco and Palmas de Felisco in Molagavita to Río Chico, a sector in the municipality of Mogotes, where they attend school, shop and work.
The lack of a viable step led the Santander Ministry of Education to move more than 150 students to remote learning in January after deeming it too dangerous for them to travel by zipline from the rural neighborhoods of Felisco and Palmas de Felisco in Molagavita to his school in Rio. Chico, sector of the municipality of Mogotes.
Parents were dissatisfied with the level of education their children were receiving outside the classroom and two weeks ago notified local and state officials that students would attend in person.
Marcos Velázquez, community leader of the city of Molagavita, expressed concern about the fact that children from 4 to 15 years old, women and the elderly use the zip line to travel 328 feet over the mighty river.
The other school option for children in Felisco and Palmas de Felisco requires two hours of travel, one on foot and the other by motorcycle or car.
A child fell into the river in 2022 and drowned. His body was recovered two days later.
A man uses his hands to slide down a zip line while a child sits on his lap.
Residents wait their turn to use a zip line to travel between the municipalities of Molagavita and Mogotes in north-central Colombia
‘It’s the most dangerous thing there is. Children live in total danger,’ said Velázquez Caracol News. ‘The (cable) lines have been weakening. So it was not safe to continue passing through there.”
Judge Avendaño even went so far as to indicate that parents should provide zip-lining lessons to their children.
“That is totally illogical,” Velázquez said.
A memo obtained by Noticias Caracol showed that Santander authorities approached President Gustavo Petro’s administration in February and asked for help in building a new bridge.
‘We call on the National Risk Management Unit to take this seriously, because the children are at risk, there is a failed guardianship,’ said the governor of Santander, Juvenal Díaz.
‘We are going to have another meeting this week so that we can define the resources and we can build that important bridge for the children of those schools.’