Stalled boats, few tourists and many complaints. Almost three months after ten people died due to the detachment of a large rock in the Furnas lake in Capitólio (MG), the site was reopened on the 30th with a series of restrictions and in search of tourists, who rarely attended. The forecast, however, is positive for April.
In the first opening weekend under the new rules, what was seen in the city were speedboats stopped at the piers, few tourists and almost no tourist buses. The sector says that the trend is for improvement from this week, mainly because there will be two long holidays in the month (Easter and Tiradentes).
“By this time, 70% of the boats would already be in the water, which is not happening”, said on the first Saturday (2) of reopening businessman Tiago Asa Branca, 35, one of those who offer tourist tours with the boats.
The three-hour aquatic itineraries were not stopped after the tragedy that took place in January. But, with the closing of the canyons, the city’s postcard, the movement dropped a lot.
“It was all difficult, people were afraid. There are people who don’t even know it was reopened yet”, said André Silva, another who works in the sector.
The reopening was only possible after the city government published a decree with very clear rules: speedboats cannot enter the lake’s canyons without control and all occupants must wear helmets and life jackets.
The limit of boats in the place also dropped, from 40 to 5, and, in case of rain, the tours are suspended. In addition, buoys limit access, preventing access to the walls, and mechanical sound on the boats is prohibited.
The site, however, was reopened without defining penalties for eventual violators and what amount of rain will be used to interrupt the operation of the vessels in the lake.
“We will control it with a rain gauge. If it rains for a minute or two is one thing, but if we realize that it takes longer, we will close”, said the secretary of Sustainable Economic Development of Capitólio, Lucas Arantes Barros.
This Monday (11), he said that, since reopening, the place has been closed only once. “It’s been raining more at night,” he said.
According to him, possible penalties will be defined through a bill and rules for tourism may be established at a seminar in May, in partnership with Sebrae and the municipalities of São João Batista do Glória and São José da Barra, cities neighboring areas also bathed by the Furnas lake.
“In the decree [forma usada para definir as normas] cannot put punishment, it has to be by law. As we have intense inspection there, any non-compliance at the time we can curb. But if we see that we are having a problem, we will send a bill,” he said.
Barros stated that everyone is involved in providing security for tourists. “If you don’t, he won’t come.”
One of the visitors was the merchant Maria Alaíde Pinheiro, from Franca (400 km from São Paulo), who was in Capitólio with her husband and children. She stated that despite the accident, she always wanted to see the city.
“It’s a very sad memory, of course, but it was an accident. It wasn’t the fault of whoever was there walking around,” he said.
A memory, by the way, that doesn’t leave the head of pilot Lucas Cassiano Costa, 26, even a day. He commanded a speedboat that narrowly escaped the tragedy, by managing to accelerate and leave the canyon region that day.
But not without sequelae. A rock flew and hit the left side of the pilot’s face, who passed out. To this day he does not know the size of the stone, but the damage is calculable. He lost teeth, fractured facial bones and had to wait five days for his face to swell before undergoing surgery at a hospital in Passos (MG).
Still away from his duties, he was at the site the first weekend of reopening and says he does not know if he will be able to resume work on the water.
“I saw two people flying when the rock fell, it shook me a lot. Maybe one day I’ll come back, I’ll be able to lose my fear. Today, psychologically, I can’t even think about going into the water.”
The Navy is working on the lake and, in the region of the canyons, a vessel controls the speedboats.
“Without a helmet, nobody gets in there,” said script salesman José Carlos Mendes. On the boats seen by Sheet on site, all bathers wore protective equipment.
The adoption of helmets is seen by some tourists and people linked to the sector as a very restrictive measure.
“Helmets are too restrictive. Not a pebble, a pebble falls. If it falls, it’s a ton of stone, but we have to remember that decades have passed without anything happening. Now, out of nowhere, are you going to start having accidents? an accident of nature,” said Fausto Costa, executive secretary of Alago (Association of Municipalities of Lago de Furnas) and vice-president of the Furnas watershed committee.
After a period of drought that made the lake retreat up to eight kilometers in its extension and transform the place into pasture for cows, the water level in Furnas is 766 m above sea level, 9 m more than the scenario in July last year.
With this, Alago and the river basin committee consider the level “perfect” for tourism and see the resumption as positive due to the awareness of tourists and companies linked to the sector.
“The expectation is good due to the awareness, the feeling of the people who are ahead”, said Costa.
The desired level of water in Furnas to meet all economic activities and tourism is 762 m, 12 m above the minimum operating level (750 m). Over the weekend, the reservoir reached 82.35% of its useful volume.
The expectation of the tourist sector is that the resumption will be gradual. In addition to the January tragedy, they point to the omicron variant of Covid-19, the excessive rains of the period and the country’s economic crisis as factors that hampered tourism in the first quarter.
“The canyons are the main point that tourists like to visit. With the reopening, the situation should improve. It needs to improve, for everyone”, said Asa Branca.
