He can no longer defend himself, but others will do it for him. The tragic death of little Dylan has returned this week to the minds and hearts of most Lanzarote residents, upon learning of the indictment that has ...
He can no longer defend himself, but others will do it for him. The tragic death of little Dylan has returned this week to the minds and hearts of most Lanzarote residents, upon learning of the indictment filed by the prosecutor. And when reading the detailed account of what happened that fateful night, the indignation of that moment is also revived, in the face of a chain of such immense and heartbreaking absurdities. And it is that with very little, the terrible death of a five-year-old child could have been avoided.
Obviously, it would have been avoided if his mother had not started driving after having several drinks. If she hadn't had so many as to far exceed the permitted blood alcohol level, and to now be accused of reckless homicide.
But also, it would have been avoided if Dylan's mother had not been able to access that port, which in addition to not having light that night, was a usual scene of drinking parties and car races. If that facility had been properly closed. If they had at least learned from other tragedies experienced in that same area, such as the one that had cost the lives of two young people in 2005.
However, one more victim was needed. Perhaps the most dramatic, both for the age of the little one and for the pain of imagining him tied in his chair, while the vehicle sank and no one came to rescue him. And of that, not only is the mother to blame, but also several institutions that, at the time, dedicated themselves to kicking balls out instead of assuming their responsibilities.
Now, finally, at least the Port Authority will have to answer for what happened, since the prosecutor points to it as subsidiarily responsible for the accident. And it is that there were tragic precedents in that port and, even so, nothing was done to prevent them from being repeated.
Only days after Dylan's death, and before the insistence and indignation of an entire island, Puertos saw fit to put some bollards on the dock and closed the accesses to prevent the passage of vehicles. A minimal measure that has ended the presence of cars in the area, and that makes the indignation even greater, when seeing how easy it would have been to avoid this tragedy.
For them, the 100,000 euros that they could end up having to pay subsidiarily, and that would be given to Dylan's father as compensation, will undoubtedly not mean too much, but at least, if the conviction arrives, they will not be able to turn their backs on a reality that they have tried to avoid: they would be singled out as jointly responsible for the death of a child who had his whole life ahead of him, and who died in a terrifying way.
However, this does not end the chain of responsibilities either. And it is that, in addition, Dylan's death also highlighted a disastrous intervention by the island's emergency services. Daniel, a sports diver and member of the Pastinaca club, was the one who had to enter the water to rescue the child, because neither Emerlan, nor the Red Cross, nor the firefighters had brought diving equipment, causing valuable minutes to be lost in the rescue. According to Daniel, enough to have saved the little one's life. He may be wrong. In fact, the investigation has not considered it that way, and therefore no responsibilities will be purged in Justice on this issue. However, they should be demanded by society.
At the time, the Security and Emergencies Councilor of the Cabildo, Ramón Bermúdez, assured that an internal investigation had been opened to determine why the firefighters did not have diving equipment, which apparently had been delivered to Emerlan, despite the fact that their response time is much higher, as they are volunteers.
However, he refused to deliver that report to the press, alleging that the matter was in the hands of Justice. An argument that was already difficult to digest then, and that is now completely empty. If no judicial action is going to be taken against the emergency services, it is time to make that report public and find out what happened that night and, above all, what kind of emergency services we have. And of course, it is not enough to assure that it has already been corrected.
That may not have cost this child his life but, of course, like his mother and the Port Authority, they did not give Dylan a chance either. At least, now he deserves answers.
