The search continues of the five missing after the tragedy caused by the DANA almost a month ago. There are thousands of volunteers and professionals who continue to contribute their bit in the areas most affected by the storm, such as the Cape Baladrón and his Choni bitchwhich form an inseparable binomial.
Both are assigned to the cynological platoon of the Second Battalion at the Morón de la Frontera air base, in Seville and this thursday They searched one of the most affected areas for the worst cold drop in history: chiva. Specifically, they tried to locate possible victims in the Calicanto quarry, boarding an inflatable boat.
Days after the arrival of DANA, the body of a minor was found thanks to a dog of the Cynological service of the Civil Guard of Valencia, in a flooded area near the A-3, as it passes through the Valencian town. Specifically, the child was found in the Barranco de Palos near an industrial estate, in an area that borders Loriguilla. It was in a wooded area, surrounded by crop fields, so it can be deduced that the body was dragged there by water.
Also in Chiva, the bodies of the businessmen Antonio Noblejas, 76 years old and former general director of Edem, José Luis MarÃn, 85 years old and owner of the Mas Camarena schools, Vicente Tarancón, founder of the sports clothing firm Luanvi and Miguel Bordeaux74 years old, founder and president of SPB Global Corporation, the Valencian company that supplies Mercadona with cleaning products (Bosque Verde) and cosmetics (Deliplus).
Specialized in finding human remains
For his part, Choni is a Belgian Malinois and is one of the dogs that has the Military Emergency Unit (UME), specialized in finding human remains buried or submerged. “When the decomposition of the body begins, release some oilsa fat that the dog detects,” says the soldier. These fluids subsequently rise to the surface.
Once he has perceived these oils, Choni brings his snout as close as possible to the water, since his sense of smell is very precise, so much so that he is able to detect a sunken body up to 14 meters deep. Later, if the Belgian Shepherd recognizes the odor as human, it barks at its owner to warn of a positive result. In this way, a work area is delimited for divers.
In addition, rescuers have also been working on The Albuferaanother of the regions most affected by the storm and where two bodies were found. To carry out their exhaustive search tasks, they have a very demanding trainingin which they run daily drills to train, with iron discipline.
Choni began his career in February of last year, in the search for missing people, after the devastating Turkey earthquake that left thousands dead and missing. This work was the cause of it being awarded as “outstanding dog” and defined as “an elite four-legged soldier”.