Disappearance of Natacha in Peru: here are the tracks considered by the investigators
Steph Deschamps / February 9, 2022
The parents of Natacha de Crombrugghe, the Belgian of 28 years disappeared since two weeks while she carried out a trek in solitary on the Andean high plateaus, arrived in Peru, indicated the Peruvian police to the local information channel Canal N. The police hopes to retrace with them the route of the traveler and to identify the persons that she could have crossed on her way.
Natacha de Crombrugghe had left a backpack in her hotel room in the Andean city of Cabanaconde on January 24 before leaving to visit the Colca Canyon, a popular tourist destination in the Peruvian highlands. Since then, she did not give any more sign of life.
Twenty-five members of the high mountain rescue of the zone are deployed and lead the research with the help of drones to screen the most steep and difficult places of access. A tracking dog has also been put to work, according to the Argentine news site Infobae. As the days go by, the search area expands, Víctor Zanabria, of the local police, told Canal N. From Cabanaconde, there are several circuits of two, three or more days in the Colca Canyon. We think that (Natacha de Crombrugghe) could have fallen on one of these routes, added Eloy Cacya, a rescuer specialized in high mountain who participates in the research.
We have to explore all the hypotheses. But the rain has washed away recent traces and complicated the operation, he added. In addition to a fall, authorities do not rule out the possibility that the young woman has taken refuge in a cave to escape the wild animals. The police are also conducting checks from the last places frequented by the young woman. We have redone the route taken by the majority of tourists in Cabanaconde but have not obtained results, said the police chief. The authorities hope now to complete the information which they have thanks to the arrival in Peru of the parents of Natacha de Crombrugghe, who arrived Monday and left early Tuesday morning for Cabanaconde, according to Mr. Zanabria.
The Peruvian police force also counts on the electronic trace of the GSM of the young Belgian to try to locate her. According to Canal N and Infobae, the Peruvian police have contacted their Belgian counterpart to coordinate the rescue strategy. At the request of the public prosecutor's office of Brussels, the police diffused a search notice specifying that the young woman of 1m65, of thin corpulence and the long brown hair, perhaps carried a black raincoat with hood at the time of her disappearance, as well as clothes of excursion and sneakers.