They survived General Belgrano Cruise's hell: "We were going directly to death but friendship saved our lives"

For his almost hairless hair, in the navy they nicknamed him "The Russian". At the age of 15, the maternal model decreed that he should enroll with his brother Roberto in the Naval NCO School. His mother, Maria Delia, tried to keep her children away from unhappiness and scarcity that the family has suffered Colonia San Joaquín, a rural enclave of santafecino with just 25 ranches where, from the age of 8, boys sowed potatoes, cotton and maize with adults.

There was no truce or vacation. The field work lasted seven days a week, 365 days a year, and again the food was rationed at the family table. Don Manuel, the father, worker of Estancia La Pilgará, property of English ownersHe felt that he would not tolerate detachment, but they deserved a better future and ended up accepting the indeclinable decision of his wife.

Until then, the world of the Wery brothers was stuck to the green and bucolic tapestry of Santa Fe. A terroir in which the sea and the ships appeared out of scale and they have been described as an impenetrable abstraction. They had not even seen the sea on a photo or an illustration. In his early imagination, the marine task took on the dimension of an enigma.

But the sea was for the future machinist Ricardo "El Ruso" Wery (60) a instant removal. And navigate the ships, repair the machines and breathe the fresh air of the ocean under a glowing blanket of stars, quickly became a kind of addiction.

During the conflict with Chile, "El Ruso" patrolled the irascible Beagle Channel aboard the ARA aircraft carrier on May 25, and a year and a half before the start of the Falklands war, he was already filling his functions by perfecting the emergency generators, contiguous to the machinery sector of the cruise General Belgrano.

May 1, 1982: While the Belgrano sailed with the destroyers Bouchard and Piedra Buena from the island states to Falklands, most of the crew did not know the details of an almost impossible mission, and then aborted: locate in the south and attack the British fleet.

The Russian had sailed with the rest of the 1092 crew from the Puerto Belgrano base on April 16. He had no news of his brother 's fate, boarded as ARA San Antonio' ​​s waiter for the Rosario operation. In the leisure time, that's what he talked to his colleague, Blas Fernández, also a machinist, and with a novel conscript of his payments santafecinos with whom he nourished a fruitful friendship. This young man, decisive in the destiny of Wery, was 18 years old and was from Las Toscas, a town located 300 km north of Colonia San Joaquín. He was calling Héctor Aníbal Casali.

Ten minutes before the agreed time, Ricardo Wery is ranked second after the machines back. He went to the dining room for a snack, located on the deck above the room housing the propulsion of the ship. The large dining room has been divided into two large rooms and at that time he was full of people. Wery was served hot chocolate and bills. He thought he was in the main room with the rest of his comrades, when a voice stopped him.

–Russian, come here with me I am alone. I need to talkImplored his compatriot, the conscript Casali.

Wery agreed and when he was about to sit down, a thunderous dry roar, followed by an insatiable flash, shook the leaded Belgrano structure. The redoubt was immediately black. The tables on the floor flew violently in the air, tongues of fire invaded the dining room and there were cracks and raised portions of the bridge. There they aroseseawater and oil under pressure. Gases and steam mixed with a white and viscous smoke made the atmosphere unbreathable.

The devastating effect of the first Mark 8 torpedo launched stealthily at 5,000 meters from the nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror, did not experience that the impact of its 364 kg of explosive cargo under the waterline, the rear side, port side.

His deadly power was the synergy of the impact on the fuel tanks: All the sector of the machines back burned, including the solicitations and the cabins where the NCOs rested.

The ship completed the act of the 5th port. It was in the shadows and the propulsion stopped. In the explosion, Wery was shot several meters away and a few seconds later, overcoming the vertigo, he managed to get up.

-Gringo, come, join me. Let's see what we can do! "Cried Wery in desperation at the Casali call.

They walked in the backward direction of the main dining room, where Wery had originally planned to grab a snack if it had not been this miraculous call of Casali. The voracity of the flames revealed the devastation.

He observed that the soil in this area was gone. At present, an abyss of fire opened in which the rustle of iron and steel broke against each other and the cries and echoes of people drowned in oil rang. They burned alive and sought visibly sterile help.

"To the stern the flames reached the roof and the steam and gases choked us in the middle of the darkness. But the greatest tragedy occurred in the bowels of the ship, below the waterline ", evokes Infobae Wery.

And his voice breaks. "I remember seeing in the main dining room two comrades hanging in the air, hung on pipes or cables from the ceiling shouting for help, because the ground had stolen. I tried to approach them but it was impossible to save them: in an instant, they both collapsed in the back of the engine room.

At 16:01, this nerve area of ​​the Belgrano ARA, adjacent to the navy's oil tanks, was turned into a bonfire in molten steel, while the huge influx of water has contributed to a vertiginous effect apopamiento of the ship.

Two hundred and seventy-two members of the crew perished in this event.

Almost simultaneously, a few seconds later, a second torpedo cut the Belgrano arch about 15 meters away.but this roar, a ship almost two blocks away, was not perceived by Wery.

On the main deck and in the center of the ship was the spacious kitchen where meatballs were prepared and served with boiled potatoes at dinner, said the commander. Héctor Bonzo, who died in 2009, in his book 1093 crewmen.

"When the explosions took place and without knowing for sure what was happening, the cook quickly shut off the power supply as a precaution and felt that his action was the cause of the cessation of energy . " As the heel was quickly noted, everyone tended to remove the oil-filled pans that were on the burners to avoid a fire by falling on the hot iron.

In the middle of a calm sea, which would become furious two hours later, the 185-meter-long vessel moved to 14 knots (55 km) at the time, south of the bank Burdwood, almost at the same latitude as the island of the states, where he was going. Ironically, the artillery port, christened in 1944 by the US Navy under the name Phoenix (Fenix) he had survived the Pearl Harbor attack, but he was now starting to capsize in the South Atlantic.

Save for a friendship

The friend of "El Ruso", the Corporal Blas Fernández He was responsible for maintaining the main boilers that supplied the turbines. He held a guard of 16 to 20 years in what naval slang is called Fuel room.

"I had lunch with noodles at the tuco, I went for a nap and as I could not rest, I showered, I got dressed and I left half an hour before to take my position of guard and raise the Cordova Horacio & # 39; Fatiga & # 39; Romero, the first transplant, a few years later, of heart and lung by René Favaloro ", explains Fernández, nicknamed" Copetona ", in the honor of the town of Tres Arroyos where he was born.

"When I arrived, Romero invited me to take boyfriends with the boys.I initially refused, I had to install three valves in the tanks and I preferred to finish with this first, but it was so insistent that I finally agreed. the fourth lieutenant came the explosion ", says Fernandez.

"I think that like El Ruso, we both would die of hunger, but for these things of fate, friendship has saved our lives," reflects.

With the accelerated heart and emotions at the limit darkened his reason, in the middle of the darkness, Fernandez could escape from there by making the memory trip to cover. Others have crawled in the corridors. They had been trained to overcome all kinds of obstacles during the disaster.

"I could not save any comrade, except for my group, they were all dead or burned, nothing could be done"he laments.

"Where is the conscript Casali?"

Neither the Russian Wery nor Fernandez felt the thrill of the second torpedo, launched simultaneously. In total, there were three MK8s. The latter emphasized the center of the structure but never exploded or deviated. The machinists, each alone, looked for their lifejackets and their survival bags.

"I had met Casali when I found him on the main deck because his belongings were in a sollado further away from mine, 20 minutes after the first impact, while the ship's list was already very pronounced communication system but by a gong at 16:23, the ship was ordered to leave the port, my boss, Lieutenant Diaz, feared an air attack and that's why We are throwing the barrels of JP1 gasoline from the helicopter to the sea. In one of these maneuvers I was able to see Casali about 40 meters from where I was. It was the last time I saw him alive. I do not know whether he reached the raft or where he fell to the sea. He was one of the 323 heroes of Belgrano"Wery continues between sobs.

The order in the envelope covering their positions of abandonment, with numbered rafts previously awarded, it contrasted with the heartbreaking scenes on the bridge. To the burned nurses, the nurses applied morphine to them and with the wounded 's own blood they drew to their foreheads an M followed by the exact timing of the injection.. Blankets and sheets rescued from the infirmary were stacked on the main deck next to a convalescent patient, recently operated on for appendicitis, as well as mobility-impaired persons due to multiple fractures.

There was also Anonymous Heroes of Fault Control They wore OBA masks until the last minute, they entered the low bridges to try to save those who remained alive.

Wery and Fernandez were badigned to the same raft with a capacity of 22 people. With a knife, they cut the mooring line and tied it to the guardrail halfway to the ship. It was only then that they threw it to the port side.

The Belgrano had rocked nearly 40 ° and the waves began to ping the helmet vehemently. One by one, the 17 members of this group were thrown on the inflatable roof of the raft. The search and the pendulum motion of the rescue boat caused some people to fall into the sea. But the spirit of the body quickly saved those who had fallen in battle.

A broken oar served as a splint to the leg of a fracture in the maneuver. While with the other They tried to move away from the ship to avoid the suction effect while the ocean engulfed it at the back. The crew attempted to attach to the rest of the rafts. But the swell has frustrated the maneuver.

"He was already 17 years old on May 2, 1982, when the 9,000 tons of water that boarded the cruise for 60 minutes overturned him like a fatally wounded giant. He has preserved the dignity that has accompanied him throughout his life. That's why he turned to the depths, in a kind of continuous but gentle accommodation, astonishing those who, rafts, had the strength and courage to see him disappear physically forever, "wrote Commander Bonzo .

The Belgrano, represented in this fatal and definitive immersion of the lieutenant of Fragata Martín Sgut, He waited for the last sailor to leave him. And, as his motto engraved above the bridge said, he honored the words of Admiral Guillermo Brown until the last minute: "Go to the bottom before returning the flag."

"Viva la Patria, Viva el Belgrano", was the scattered and trembling lament that echoed on this Atlantic border. Cries of relief, helplessness, pain, accompanied by tears, anger and tears. One last greeting. The last tribute to this marine tomb, claudicant steel, in which have perished the heroes of the ARA Crucero General Belgrano.

"It was a very difficult moment, followed by a big bang. We badume that this was caused by the contact of the boilers with icy seawater. Although others say that the santababarras, loaded with ammunition, were affected by the fire and exploded, "said Wery.

Depressed in the Belgrano, it caused a big storm with waves of almost seven meters. The 17 raft crew members who shared El Ruso and Fernández they tried to warm up with their urine and.

The leader of the raft feared hypothermia and what is called "white death": when the cold so intense numbs parts of the body and causes drowsiness. Nobody should sleep more than 3 minutes and the companion next door had to zamarrearlo if that happened. Fernandez says that since some rafts are underemployed, with only three crew members, There were cases of death by hypothermia.

They did not know how long the sinking would last, so on the first day nobody drank or ate. Prayers Virgin Stella Maris, the patron saint of the sailors, alternated with the intonation of the hymn and the singing of the navy.

"When we found that we were very quiet, someone always started to sing and the others followed," says Blas Fernández, who suffers from hypothermia with his wet clothes. Years later, he does not know if, because of this disease, pieces of both lungs were removed.

"I never thought I was going to die. I never knew that they were looking for us"Wery remembers." On the raft, which worried me, was the concern I was giving my mother, my father and my brother. In my mind and in my body, the most important thing was to bear the cold. Then everything was a matter of time and anxiety control. "

"If I did not die cremated in the gas chamber, thought Fernandez, the cold is not going to break me. I have to go home to go fishing with my dad. Yes, yes, the first thing I will do is go fishing. "

They had spent endless hours wrecking when a navy aircraft spotted rafts drifting. Five hours later, the castaways swept the silhouette of the ARA Guruchaga Noticewho with the destroyers Bouchard and Piedrabuena and the icebreaker Paradise Bay They went to difficult rescue tasks.

The tactical diver Ovelar Caesar, native of Wery of Colonia San Joaquín, plunged into the sea with a mooring and held the raft to the hull of the Gurruchaga. Wery to see him overwhelmed with emotion.

On board, they were raised in a cococho to be transported to the interior of the ship. Nobody could walk. They had the principle of freezing from the waist up. Broth, hot chocolate, dry clothes, blankets and brief breaks in the bunks, then offer them to newcomers or those who have suffered a worse condition. They were sleeping, stacked in hallways and other they settled in the boilers to recover body temperature.

The Gurruchaga was a small boat, small capacity and despite the limitations, fulfilled a heroic task. At 9 am on May 5, he docked in Ushuaia harbor, returning more than 400 of the 770 survivors to the ground after carrying out the largest rescue of Argentine naval history.

Blas Fernández erected a monument in his city of Copetonas, in the province of Buenos Aires. From there, he organizes discussions in schools and universities so that the memory of Crucero Belgrano remains alive.

Diver Ovelar telegraphed to Wery's family that he had been saved alive. The whole city of Colonia San Joaquín went to receive him as a prodigal son. He would have preferred, at that time, a more intimate, subsidiary meeting. Kissing and crying with his mother, Delia María and his father, Manuel Alcides. He never got up – he did not want – to go to Las Toscas to meet the family of Hector Casali, the conscript who, saved by the conversation, ended up saving his life.

Shortly after his return, life came back to surprise him: the employers of Estancia Pilgará where his father worked had organized a check for each of the Wery brothers during their war in the Falklands war.

"I never knew why, but I remember it was the equivalent of two months of fieldwork," says Weru.

Russian, unlike Fernandez, has never managed to overcome the tragedy of Belgrano. The most painful images experienced by his colleagues are often reissued in his memory. But the noble Belgrano is like a family tragedy that hides in the folds of this odyssey of a thousand and one stories of heroism. "Nothing is more alive than a memory"Bonzo wrote and this synthesis is done by Wery.

The Russian continued to sail and embarked until 2007.After 48 years spent in the Navy, the institution ensures "that he gave me much more than he took". His friend Blas overcame colon cancer with chemotherapy after the sinking of the ship. Today, through his interviews, he strives to comfort the families of the survivors who could not develop the drama and committed suicide."It's like dying twice"said Wery.

On May 2, 1983, at 5 pm, at the end of the first year of the Belgrano attack, the ARA Somellera manual and a C-130 Air Force aircraft launched floral offerings on the verge of sinking, this marine tomb that, at a depth of 4,000 meters, pays homage to the rest in the glory of more than half of the dead heroes during of the Falklands war.