A Uruguayan man, rescued after vanishing in the freezing Andes four months ago has turned from celebrated survivor to crime suspect after authorities revealed he was fleeing paedophilia charges.
58-year-old Raul Gomez Cincunegui, who had been reported missing by his family in May, was found by chance on Sunday (September 8) when helicopters flying overhead saw him sitting next to a shelter at an altitude of 4,500 metres in Argentina’s San Juan province.
A dehydrated Gomez Cincunegui, who weighed just 40 kilograms (a little over six stones) when he was rescued, survived below freezing temperatures in the snow-covered mountains by eating sugar and raisins left behind by mountain climbers in the Ingeniero Sardina shelter, according to rescuers.
He was flown to a hospital in the capital of San Juan, where his wife and daughter were able to see him after fearing he was dead.
Events took a turn on Monday when Chilean authorities asked for Gomez Cincunegui to be extradited after revealing that he is wanted in connection with the sexual abuse of an eight-year-old boy in Santiago.
He was bailed on April 22 and barred him from going near the alleged victim or leaving Chile. An arrest warrant was issued on July 17 after he missed a court hearing.
“It is believed that he left Chile through an unauthorised crossing since border police were informed of his ban from leaving the country,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
Gomez Cincunegui had left Uruguay by motorcycle in April on his way to a gathering of bikers in the western Argentine city of Mendoza. He then went to visit relatives in the Chilean capital, where the alleged crime occurred, prosecutors said. Facing charges, he travelled to the town of Petorca, 170kms north of Santiago, and left Chile on foot. After walking for 200kms, he got lost in the midst of the Andean winter, according to relatives. He lost contact with his family when the mobile phone connection went dead on a mountain pass between Argentina and Chile known as Paso de los Patos.
Hospital reports suggest Gomez Cincunegui is suffering from severe malnutrition but has shown no signs of permanent organ damage. Chile’s Attorney General’s office must now consider whether to seek his extradition once he’s healthy enough to travel again.
