The Brazilian tourist who was crushed to death by a falling slab of ice in Argentina had been travelling through South America in his camper van with his cat for four years.
The man fatally hit on the head by a sheet of ice that had detached from the ceiling of a cave has been named as Dennis Cosmo Marin, 37. Harrowing footage of his last moments and his death went around the world.
Dennis – from Sao Paulo – was an advertising executive and had been travelling in a Kombi through South America for nearly four years with his pet cat Lince.
The incident that claimed his life took place in the off-limits Cueva de Jimbo – or Ice Cave – in Tierra del Fuego National Park on 2nd November.
Rescuers who arrived on the scene after receiving the call-out were only able to pronounce him dead from suspected head trauma.
His body was taken to a base following an operation lasting more than six hours.
Dennis’s Instagram page documenting his travels – titled O de Kombi – had more than 5,000 followers at the time of writing.
He had visited other parts of Brazil, French Guiana, Suriname, and Uruguay, and had arrived in southern Argentina days before the fatal accident.
Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs – through the Consulate General of Brazil in Buenos Aires – has reportedly been providing the necessary assistance to his family.
In a statement obtained by Newsflash, the Argentine National Gendarmerie said: “Yesterday [2nd November], personnel from the Group of Specialists in High Mountains (GEAM), dependent on the Ushuaia Nucleus Squadron, were alerted by the Ushuaia Rescue Commission about a tourist who had received a blow to the head in the well-known Cueva de Jimbo or ‘Ice Cave’, close to La Oveja, and that he had low vital signs.
“On arriving at the site, in conjunction with personnel from the National Parks, Provincial Police, Defence and Civil Protection, Volunteer Fire Brigade, Club Andino Ushuaia, and Regional Hospital, the tourist’s death was confirmed, then his descent began using a Sked rescue stretcher (designed with a pulley system for interventions in high, deep, or confined spaces).
“Witnesses stated that the victim had been crushed by a mass of ice that broke off from the upper part of the cavern.
“The deceased man did not have documentation among his belongings, so his identity was verified at the police headquarters, where it was learned that he was approximately 30 years old, that he was travelling alone in the country, and that he was residing in a motorhome in the Rio Pipo municipal campsite.
“The Court of Instruction No. 1 of the southern judicial district has ordered that the investigation and the casework be assigned the Tierra del Fuego Police.”
