SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Oct 19 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Pevolca Steering Committee has granted this Tuesday permission to the Aerocamaras company to proceed to the rescue of the four dogs that remain trapped in the lava since the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano, as reported by the Pevolca technical director, Miguel Ángel Morcuende , who has expressed his wish that the rescue can be successful.
To extract these animals, the Galician firm will use cargo drones specifically prepared to complete the performance. The rescue team, which was deployed yesterday to prepare for the evacuation of the animals, has been authorized to carry out the extraction after exposing its strategy to representatives of the Cabildo, the Emergency Military Unit (UME) and the Advanced Command Post.
The Aerocamaras technicians will proceed in the next few hours to reconnoitre the terrain, where they will carry out an extraction that, while waiting to know the evolution of their analysis, will be carried out in the next few days.
The drones will begin by delivering food and drink to the dogs, which will allow operators to inspect with a 30x camera and another thermographic the location where they will perform the extraction while they habituate the animals to noise and the presence of the UAS.
The second step will come when it is time to execute the evacuation process. The Galician operator will use a cargo drone equipped with its own logistics system adapted to the characteristics of the animals, together with another support aircraft, with which the pilot in charge of the operation will be able to plan the rescue flight safely.
They will use food as bait and, when one of the animals is on the loading system, they will lift it to extract it on the laundry. The evacuation process will be individual, dog to dog.
In order to carry out the rescue, Aerocamaras yesterday moved its technicians to the vicinity of the volcano. The transfer of the equipment has been possible thanks to the support of Iberia and Peninsula, which have made their planes and ferries available to the operators of the Galician company, defraying logistics expenses.
The operation requires a special permit from the competent authorities (the Island Council) as it entails a high risk with the air transport of live animals, for which Aerocamaras has carried out numerous rescue simulations for days while waiting for government approval. . The race against time to save the trapped dogs that began this week with their discovery enters its final stretch today, with all preparations in situ to proceed after receiving the relevant authorization.
The option for the UME and the Emergency and Rescue Group (GES) to carry out the extraction by helicopter was ruled out due to the high risk that flying over magma would entail and access by land was also classified as unfeasible due to the ash and lava encirclement that surrounds them. For this reason, unmanned aircraft (UAS) became the first (and only option) of the podencos.
“We are prepared to carry out the rescue. The lives of the dogs are at stake and our objective is to save them as soon as possible, it is necessary that we get them out of there imminently and with the authorization in hand we will get to work right now” , assures Jaime Pereira, CEO of Aerocamaras.
