450
Views

Video: Chilean Navy Rescues Survivor From the Rocks in Tierra Del Fuego

A Chilean Navy rescue swimmer climbs out of the surf and onto the rocks to reach the survivor (Armada de Chile)
A Chilean Navy rescue swimmer climbs out of the surf and onto the rocks to reach the survivor (Armada de Chile)

Published Aug 24, 2025 10:57 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

Against all odds, the Chilean Navy has rescued a survivor from a fishing vessel that went missing off Tierra del Fuego on Thursday. The four fishermen aboard the vessel were harvesting sea urchins, and the crew disappeared along with their vessel, the Ana Belen.

Good Samaritan fishermen located the survivor - who was wearing a black wetsuit - in an area known locally as the Bahia Sea, near the western entrance to Beagle Channel. The maze of inlets at the westward fringe of Tierra del Fuego bears the full brunt of the region's stormy weather, and this creates real challenges for shore access. The survivor could not be reached by helicopter because of powerful downdrafts from the cliffs above, and heaving surf made it impossible to get a small boat near to the rocky shoreline.

To complete the retrieval of the survivor, a Chilean Navy helicopter dropped a rescue swimmer into the water near the rocks, and he swam through the waves and climbed up on shore to reach the fisherman. Then, together, they got back into the frigid water and swam out to a pickup point. 

"The extraction lasted approximately 25 minutes, which was vitally important since they had to swim to the rescue boat that was waiting for them in a safe place," said Serio Surriba, commander of the naval aviation unit in Puerto Williams. 

The survivor has been identified as Juan Andrés Rojas Casco, a Paraguayan national. The search for the three other missing fishermen continues, and the Chilean Navy has pledged to make "every effort to find the rest of the crew." 

The missing have been identified as Joel Bogado, Fernando González, and César González, also Paraguayan nationals. Casco, who knows the circumstances of the sinking, has provided information to help authorities in the search for the other men. The authorities believe that there is a strong possibility that the others - like Casco - made it to land and may still be alive, if they can survive the freezing winter temperatures of the Magallanes region.