For more than The residents of Isla Santa María have waited six hours to return to their place of origin, after the vessel in charge of the Naviera Puelche was left “in panne”. The passengers are stranded in Lota.
According to the account of one of our auditors, the nearly 80 passengers had been traveling for about an hour and a half in the direction of Isla Santa María, after arriving on the boat run by the Puelche company from the sector Pueblo Hundido in Lota, Bío Bío region.
In this context, the residents of the island were notified about the return of the shipping company to the mainland, due to a malfunction in an engine.< /strong>
“We have been sailing for almost two hours, when they tell us that the boat must be returned because it has a bad engine (…). We are not going to get off until they give us a solution”, the woman accused.
Ceded to RBB
The passengers of the boat arrived at around 2:30 p.m. in Lota, including children, the elderly and the chronically ill.
In the frustrated trip, basic necessities were transported, and even a vehicle to mobilize a patient who must undergo dialysis in the Puerto Norte sector.
A situation that, once again, generated the annoyance of the neighbors against the Government authorities for the “abandonment” which, they say, experience as a result of this situation.
Technical problems on the boat
The Seremi de Transportes in Bío Bío, Claudia García Lima, explained the reasons for this contingency and called on the company responsible for the subsidized service to “take charge of this problem”.
Finally, and after more than six hours of waiting, the residents of the island will be able to return to their place of origin at around 9:30 p.m.
“According to what was reported by the Puelche shipping company, the situation was due to a failure in one of its engines, which must be confirmed by the Port Authority of Lota”, García specified.
He also stressed that “ ;the company must take charge of this problem, and fix an unacceptable damage that occurred during the day”.
Questions about the technical problems that the shipping company is going through have dragged on for weeks, when the local leaders of the island accused trips of up to 5 and a half hours between said territory and Lota.
In That opportunity, the Seremi de Transportes indicated that such problems were due to climatic factors and ruled out failures in the vessel. That, until today.