Overview
- A man identified as Ananías Bardales Mendo was buried under a collapsed retaining wall and about three meters of earth while working on a house and was freed alive after several hours of rescue efforts.
- Firefighters, the GOES special operations unit, Serenazgo, police and civil-defense teams used cutting tools and excavation to remove concrete, wood and sand and transferred Bardales on a stretcher after he was reached.
- Local officials describe the wall as an artisanal, improvised structure on uneven terrain that ceded quickly, making the construction method the immediate cause under investigation.
- Personnel from the municipal Defensa Civil and the national emergency institute INDECI are remaining at the scene to assess structural risk to neighboring houses and complete formal diligences.
- The incident highlights the vulnerability of densely built informal settlements on slopes where makeshift retaining structures are common and it could prompt wider safety checks and enforcement in Ventanilla and similar districts.