Overview
- A Toyota Hilux driven roughly 1.5 kilometres into the Pampa del Leoncito became trapped and left wheel tracks up to 25 cm deep after crossing a restricted area.
- Early attempts to tow the vehicle and to use makeshift ramps made the damage worse and deepened the ruts on the fragile saline-clay surface.
- Gendarmería Nacional holds the pickup while officials assess removal options that could cause more harm or carry high costs, including a helicopter extraction or waiting for the plain to harden.
- Local authorities have filed formal complaints and the driver has been processed before the Juzgado de Paz, facing contravention and possible criminal charges as officials demand exemplary sanctions.
- Experts and park managers say the arid plain recovers extremely slowly, with natural leveling estimated to take decades to as much as a century, and the case has drawn international media and NGO condemnation that increases pressure on local decision makers.