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Combined forces from the Eastern Army, the Central Army, and the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) rescued 38 individuals who had been trapped by the rise of a river in the municipality of Cacocum, Holguín province, according to the official page of Ejército Oriental on Facebook.
According to the report, the operation lasted five hours due to "the complexity of the terrain, the strength of the river, and the prevailing darkness." The teams used an amphibious transporter, PTS, to cover the eight kilometers that separate the municipal seat from the town of Santa María, where those affected were located.
“The young fighters navigated the amphibious transporter PTS the 8 kilometers that separate the municipal center from the town of Santa María, rescuing 38 people along the way, including children, women, and the elderly, many with various health conditions,” the statement detailed.
The text adds that "it was around 10 at night when these Cubans were happily received by the Chief of the Engineering Directorate of the FAR, the Chief of Staff of the Eastern Army, members of the Municipal Defense Council, fighters from the MININT, and residents who offered their friendly hand."
The published images show the personnel from the FAR and the MININT mobilized with the amphibious vehicle, crossing flooded areas and transporting those rescued.
"It is the strength of a people that do not give up and a country that rises up against the onslaught of hydrometeorological phenomena," the message concluded.
Severe flooding in eastern Cuba
The rescue in Cacocum takes place amid a regional emergency caused by Hurricane Melissa, which has resulted in severe flooding and isolated communities in several provinces in the eastern part of the country.
In the municipality of Urbano Noris, also in Holguín, the rising waters of the Cauto River have isolated rural communities such as Travesía, San Bartolo, and Estrada, where “the volume of water has disrupted rescue operations,” according to a report by Radio SG La voz del Azúcar shared on local networks.
Likewise, in the town of El Cobre, in the province of Santiago de Cuba, the Ministry of the Interior released images of a rescue operation where teams from the Fire Department and the Special Brigade saved several individuals trapped by landslides and flooding during the passage of Hurricane Melissa.
Previously, a Cuban mother had urgently sought help to rescue her son, doctor Alexis Bonilla Silva, and about 50 people trapped in the rural community of Travesía, in the same municipality of Urbano Noris, where "the rivers overflowed" and the population was left "without signal, without electricity, without food, and surrounded by water on all sides," as reported on social media.
Hurricane Melissa, which made landfall on the southern coast of Santiago de Cuba as a category 3 storm early on October 29, has caused material damage, power outages, and the destruction of homes in numerous localities in eastern Cuba, where rescue operations and efforts to restore basic services are ongoing.
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