Terrifying moment Colombian residents including children zipline over dangerously rapid river nearly five years after footbridge linking two town was destroyed by rain storm

This is the moment residents crossed a river, almost five years after a storm downed a wooden pedestrian crossing connecting two cities in north-central Colombia.

It showed a man ziplining across the Chicamocha River with a child sitting on his lap.

A young girl, dressed in her school uniform, was spotted struggling with the zipline.

The pedestrian bridge collapsed after rainstorms in Molagavita destroyed the pedestrian bridge in 2019.

Judge Edward Avendaño previously ordered the state government of Santander to collaborate with the Municipality of Molagavita and the Risk Management Office to build a military bridge.

However, residents are waiting for construction to start.

Residents often use a zipline to travel from the rural neighborhoods of Felisco and Palmas de Felisco in Molagavita to Rio Chico, a sector in the municipality of Mogotes, where they go to school, shop and work.

The lack of a viable passageway prompted Santander’s Ministry of Education to move more than 150 students to remote learning in January after it deemed it too dangerous for them to travel from the rural districts of Felisco and Palmas de Felisco in Molagavita to go to their school in Rio. Chico, a sector in the municipality of Mogotes.

Parents were unhappy with the level of education their children were receiving outside the classroom and two weeks ago informed local and national authorities that students would attend in person.

Marcos Velázquez, a community leader in the town of Molagavita, expressed concern about children between the ages of 4 and 15, women and the elderly using the zipline to travel 100 meters across the fast-flowing river.

The other school option for children in Felisco and Palmas de Felisco takes two hours of travel – one on foot and the other by motorcycle or car.

In 2022, a child fell into the river and drowned. His body was found two days later.

A man uses his hands to slide down a zipline while a young boy sits on his lap

Residents wait their turn to use a zipline to travel between the municipalities of Molagavita and Mogotes in north-central Colombia

‘It’s the most dangerous thing there is. The children are living in total danger,” Velázquez said Noticias Caracol. ‘The (cable) lines have been weakened. So it was not safe to continue passing there.’

Judge Avendaño even went so far as to say that parents should give their children ziplining lessons.

“That is completely illogical,” Velázquez said.

A memo obtained by Noticias Caracol shows that Santander authorities contacted the government of President Gustavo Petro in February and asked for help in the construction of a new bridge.

“We call on the National Risk Management Unit to take this seriously, because the children are at risk and there is a failed guardianship,” Santander Governor Juvenal Díaz said.

“We have another meeting this week so we can define the resources and build that important bridge for the children of those schools.”