The drama of Jefferson, the firefighter who attended an emergency without knowing that the victim was his father

As if it were a date with destiny, Jefferson Artunduaga, a firefighter from Antioquia, experienced the most difficult moment of his career as a rescue worker. Artunduaga received a call to attend a road accident and upon arriving at the scene found that the victim, run over, was his father.

The difficult event occurred on October 12 in the municipality of Barbosa, north of the Aburrá valley in Antioquia. Jefferson belongs to the Barbosa Fire Department and for more than seven years he has been working on all kinds of alert situations. However, according to him, he never thought that he would have to attend an emergency in which his father would be the fatal victim.

“Unfortunately I went to attend to the case, it was my turn to assist the patient and realize that it was my father who had died in that event”, tells the young firefighter to the newspaper El Tiempo.

The sinister road appeared on the dual carriageway, at the Los Búcaros farm. When the fire department answered the call, they considered it pertinent that those who should be in charge of the emergency were the road police, but they called again and insisted that they be the Barbosa firefighters.

“Therefore we were not going to go because that is highway police and personnel to carry out a survey,” Artunduaga told RCN News. After going with his rescue team to the scene, the young firefighter found his father lying on the floor, with almost no vital signs.

According to information from the security forces, Guillermo León Artunduaga, 69, a victim of the accident and father of the young firefighter, worked as a baker in the vicinity of the municipality and was returning home when he was hit by a white truck with SLP 397 plates.

“He came from working on the sides of Porce and dedicated himself to being a baker, all his life he was a baker. Unfortunately, the events occurred in an area with little visibility, “Jefferson Artunduaga told El Tiempo, who preferred not to delve into details and seek the well-being of his family.

According to information from RCN News, when Jefferson came to help the victim and realized it was his father, he grabbed his hands with almost no pulse and felt the worst sensation of his life.

“The moment I realized it was my dad, the only thing I felt was as if I had been hit in the chest, as if it had been left empty”said the rescuer. “It has been very difficult, but you try to be strong,” concluded the firefighter.

Alarming figures

So far in 2020, as a result of road accidents, 2,663 people have died and 7,804 injured people have been registered in the country, “which represents a reduction of 26.62% and 58.57% respectively; the most affected road actor being the motorcycle user, representing 51.8% of the deaths and 58.2% of the injured, ”Jairo Hernández Márquez, deputy director (e) of Environmental Health of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection.