The father of a French boy who fell down a 328-foot crater in the Galápagos on July 7 has spoken out about the incident.
Jérôme Devosse and his family were visiting Los Gemelos—a pair of craters on Santa Cruz Island—when his 8-year-old son, Axel, fell.
"I heard a cry," Devosse told French radio network RTL. "You turn around and it's the horror of not seeing your child behind you."
As he swung around, Devosse realized that Axel had disappeared.
"When he fell, I was sure he was dead," Devosse said.
Los Gemelos ("The Twins") are two large craters in the upper region of Santa Cruz Island, separated by only a narrow highway.
The twin craters were formed as a result of ancient volcanic activity on the island, according to the Galápagos National Park.
The island of Santa Cruz lies on a dormant shield volcano roughly 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador. Scientists do not know for sure when this volcano last erupted, but evidence suggests it may have been a few thousand years ago, according to the Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program.
This volcanic activity likely laid the groundwork, quite literally, for the formation of the twin craters: as lava pours out of an active volcano, it carves deep ridges down the volcano's flanks through which the hot liquid is channelled. These can crust over, creating underground tunnels, called lava tubes, that are left as empty, underground caverns when the eruption stops.
Over time, the volcanic surface material erodes and can eventually collapse, creating large sinkholes like Los Gemelos.
The craters of Los Gemelos have steep almost vertical walls, covered in brambles and wild vegetation. According to Devosse, Axel was located by a drone and hauled up using a system of pulleys and ropes.
"He was hospitalized after five hours in the crater," said his father.
After 36 hours he was transferred to a hospital on mainland Ecuador. Ten days later, his condition has improved and the family plan to return to France in the next week.
"For me it is a miracle," Devosse said. "If in a film, you see a child falling and getting up with just two fractures and a damaged eye, you would say to yourself that the film is unrealistic and that it is absolutely impossible.
"My mom passed away suddenly a few months ago and I am quite convinced that it was her, from where she is, who intervened to save him."
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Pandora Dewan is a Senior Science Reporter at Newsweek based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on science, health ... Read more
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