Father and daughter found dead after attempted rescue at Cunco waterfall

The father was reported to be 32. The family had been spending Sunday afternoon near the river when, according to the preliminary account, the girl slipped into the water. Her father went in after her and also went over the waterfall, whose drop has been estimated at about 25 metres. Exactly how the emergency unfolded remains under investigation.⁠1⁠3

Both bodies were found at La Garganta del Brujo. Cunco Mayor Cristian Moraga said the father and daughter had been located together, confirming the outcome of an operation involving specialist police, firefighters and municipal emergency teams. Speaking to 24 Horas, in remarks reproduced by Emol, he said:⁠1

Moraga’s statement establishes that they were found together. It does not establish the sequence of their final moments, or whether the father was able to reach his daughter during the attempted rescue.

The emergency began on Sunday afternoon, November 8. Strong currents complicated the search, which brought together Carabineros’ specialist police unit, the Grupo de Operaciones Policiales Especiales, known as GOPE, alongside municipal teams and firefighters. The operation required personnel trained for underwater searches and rescue in difficult terrain.⁠1⁠3

Crews suspended their work overnight because they lacked natural light. The search resumed on Monday with aquatic-search and difficult-terrain rescue specialists. An 08:00 restart had been announced, but that was a plan rather than an independently established time at which work actually resumed. Rescue divers subsequently located both victims beneath the water.⁠5⁠3

Published accounts place the bodies several metres below the surface, but they do not establish a single depth. Golpe Digital reported approximately four metres; La Tercera’s accounts give estimates of roughly three or four metres. Those figures describe the reported search conditions, not a verified technical measurement.⁠6⁠5⁠3

Finding the bodies and bringing them out of the river were separate stages. When Carabineros first confirmed the deaths in the statement reproduced by Emol, officers said the operation was continuing to extract them. That was the status at the initial announcement, not necessarily the final position that day.⁠1

La Tercera subsequently reported that specialist teams had recovered both bodies. The available reporting does not establish a precise completion time. The later recovery account advances the earlier police update; it is not a conflicting account of whether the victims had been found.⁠3

Even one basic detail—the daughter’s age—remains unresolved. In its November 9 report, Emol identified her as six. La Tercera’s coverage that day identified her as five, as did Radio Agricultura. The available official statements do not settle that difference, so neither age can be treated as confirmed.⁠1⁠3⁠7

The account of a slip also requires care. Emol described the girl as having reportedly slipped, rather than presenting that sequence as a completed investigative finding. The evidence does not explain what caused her to lose her footing or establish responsibility on anyone’s part. A reported attempt by her father to save her is not, by itself, a full reconstruction of the accident.⁠1

Prosecutors ordered Chile’s Servicio Médico Legal, the Forensic Medical Service, to attend. That instruction was included in the police statement confirming the discovery. It marks a procedural step toward establishing the medical evidence; it does not show that an examination has already been completed or that a formal cause of death has been announced.⁠1

The search has ended with two confirmed deaths, and later reporting describes both bodies as brought out of the river. What remains is the official account of the fall and the medical findings. Those answers may clarify how a Sunday family outing became a fatal rescue attempt; the discovery alone cannot supply them.⁠1⁠3