Wenceslao Benoit, a 77-year-old Argentine tour guide who went missing in a Paraguayan national park on the 1st, was found dead after six days. Local authorities presume exhaustion and dehydration as the cause of death and will conduct an autopsy to determine the exact cause.
The deceased, Wenceslao Benoit, a veteran tour guide, got lost while guiding a Belgian tourist, Raphael Ghiven, in the Cerro León mountain range within the Defensores del Chaco National Park in Paraguay.
Ghiven told the authorities, "We were walking together and got lost, and I went back to look for the car." He added that Benoit was supposed to wait at a certain point, but contact was lost after he moved from the designated spot.
After the missing person report was filed, Paraguayan authorities launched a large-scale search operation. Rescue workers and police were deployed, and Paraguayan President Santiago Peña ordered the mobilization of two air force planes (a Tucano T-27 for filming and a Cessna 206 with paratroopers) to assist in the search. The search was further intensified when Benoit's car was found two days after he went missing.
Presumed Cause of Death
Tragically, Benoit's body was found on the 7th, six days after he went missing, by members of the Ayoreo indigenous community. His body was discovered in a remote, densely vegetated, and hard-to-reach area not far from where the search teams were looking. Benoit's body was found lying without his shirt on, approximately 1,400 meters away from his car, with no external injuries.
Carlos Martínez, the director of the investigative division in Boquerón, stated, "It's a very unfortunate but confirmed negative outcome," and "Given the lack of injury marks, it's presumed he died of extreme fatigue and dehydration while resting." The tourist, Ghiven, mentioned that Benoit had a heart condition, but authorities plan to determine the exact cause of death through an autopsy. This tragic incident raises awareness about the dangers of vast nature and the safety issues for elderly tourists and guides.
[Copyright (c) Global Economic Times. All Rights Reserved.]
