Missing Persons: What Is It Even There For

[Cecil Fox Palmer]

My best mate is leaving Argentina for good tomorrow. He is also a foreigner and has been crashing at my place for the few past days.

Yesterday, at around 5 in the afternoon, he left on his bicycle to run an errand and did not return when I was expecting him to. I believed he might have gone off to a party but thought it was strange that he did not tell me. At 2 am I called missing persons and reported him. I gave full information (name, age, nationality) and full description (clothes, haircut, and even detailed his tattoos). The lady said that they had nothing on the system and that they would call me if something came up.

It turns out that he had been admitted to the hospital at 7 in the evening after being hit by a car at around 6:30. He was unconscious until 4 in the morning. There is no other information. No witnesses, no suspect (don't you just love hit and runs), and he's even missing money. He had to wait until 8 in the morning for doctors to come in and start testing him. His bike was no where to be found and he didn't have a SUBE, so I had to go get him. He is bruised everywhere, even bled through his ears apparently, and does not even remember leaving my house. The tests came back alright, although the doctors advised him not to fly tomorrow. He still wants to get it done since the date cannot be changed and he doesn't even have an apartment in this country anymore. He is now sleeping on my bed and is still nowhere near ready to travel.

I am just livid that people can run over others and not give a carajo that they have hurt a human life, even if it was just an accident. I also don't know why missing persons did not inform me of his whereabout some seven hours after being admitted into a hospital. His DNI was on him so they knew his name (he also kept repeating it over and over for some reason). What is missing persons even there for if they are not going to check this information? Seriously, what gives? Is this normal? Has anyone else had to call missing persons in Argentina?

P.S.: All in all, I'm glad the man is alive. He has no family in Argentina and neither do I. I have often wondered what would become of me if I went missing or got involved in such an accident. For this reason, I had decided long ago that if I hadn't heard from him, I would act fast and call missing persons. I knew that I was literally the only person who would notice if he went missing and that is exactly what happened. If his injuries would have been more serious, I would still have no information about him. Now he's leaving and I can't help but think that I would be royally screwed if this ever happened to me. I don't even have a cellphone at the moment. My family, once realizing that I haven't been online in a while, would have no one to call. My job would not know who to contact if I didn't show up for some days (and I don't think they would care too much either). Just thinking about it gives me the chills.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

Just curious,... what neighborhood did the accident happened & what Hospital was he sent to ?
I think bike riding is dangerous in this town, specially at night.

 

[Cecil Fox Palmer]

Just curious,... what neighborhood did the accident happened & what Hospital was he sent to ?
I think bike riding is dangerous in this town, specially at night.

We have no idea. He does not remember a thing. He left the apartment in Cañitas and was headed to the Congreso area. He was admitted to Hospital Fernández in Palermo.

 

[Crema Americana]

Poor guy. Hope he recovers fully. I think the airline would allow him to change his reservation without charge or with a nominal fee if he has a medical condition and can't fly. I can understand him wanting to leave Argentina ASAP, though.

Maybe it's a good idea to carry a card or something with an emergency contact number... there's probably a better chance of the hospital contacting someone than the police searching for them.

 

[nyer4ever]

Terrible situation. I think in most big cities people don't give a carajo who answer the phone. Hope he gets the rest/treatment that he needs before going back to his country. Shame there's no idea of where it happened because there are cameras about to do some future investigating.

He's alive and that's what's important!

 

[el_expatriado]

From what I understand in Argentina there is no such thing as "hit and run". You get the same penalty for hitting someone and stopping to help as hitting someone and running. So there is no legal incentive to stop and help someone who was hit. In fact, legally speaking its better to run since proof of alcohol or drug consumption can be eliminated, lawyers can be called, a strategy planned, etc (e.g. Relatos Salvajes).

They need to urgently change the laws so that a hit and run is an automatic 10 year jail sentence no matter what, in addition to whatever else you would have gotten for the actual traffic accident.

 

[mc kenna]

My best mate is leaving Argentina for good tomorrow. He is also a foreigner and has been crashing at my place for the few past days.

Yesterday, at around 5 in the afternoon, he left on his bicycle to run an errand and did not return when I was expecting him to. I believed he might have gone off to a party but thought it was strange that he did not tell me. At 2 am I called missing persons and reported him. I gave full information (name, age, nationality) and full description (clothes, haircut, and even detailed his tattoos). The lady said that they had nothing on the system and that they would call me if something came up.

It turns out that he had been admitted to the hospital at 7 in the evening after being hit by a car at around 6:30. He was unconscious until 4 in the morning. There is no other information. No witnesses, no suspect (don't you just love hit and runs), and he's even missing money. He had to wait until 8 in the morning for doctors to come in and start testing him. His bike was no where to be found and he didn't have a SUBE, so I had to go get him. He is bruised everywhere, even bled through his ears apparently, and does not even remember leaving my house. The tests came back alright, although the doctors advised him not to fly tomorrow. He still wants to get it done since the date cannot be changed and he doesn't even have an apartment in this country anymore. He is now sleeping on my bed and is still nowhere near ready to travel.

I am just livid that people can run over others and not give a carajo that they have hurt a human life, even if it was just an accident. I also don't know why missing persons did not inform me of his whereabout some seven hours after being admitted into a hospital. His DNI was on him so they knew his name (he also kept repeating it over and over for some reason). What is missing persons even there for if they are not going to check this information? Seriously, what gives? Is this normal? Has anyone else had to call missing persons in Argentina?

P.S.: All in all, I'm glad the man is alive. He has no family in Argentina and neither do I. I have often wondered what would become of me if I went missing or got involved in such an accident. For this reason, I had decided long ago that if I hadn't heard from him, I would act fast and call missing persons. I knew that I was literally the only person who would notice if he went missing and that is exactly what happened. If his injuries would have been more serious, I would still have no information about him. Now he's leaving and I can't help but think that I would be royally screwed if this ever happened to me. I don't even have a cellphone at the moment. My family, once realizing that I haven't been online in a while, would have no one to call. My job would not know who to contact if I didn't show up for some days (and I don't think they would care too much either). Just thinking about it gives me the chills.

I'm really sorry to hear what happened to your friend, but if you are gonna wait for the system to actually work as it should, then you might be in for a long one.
The only solution i see for those expats living here on their own is actually networking with other expats, however, that means that if you pick another expat to be your contact number, you are gonna have to disclose some information that some are not willing to do.......
or carry dog tags like in the army

 

[Cecil Fox Palmer]

Like I said, the guy had is DNI so it's not like he was unidentifiable. I don't have a cellphone and neither does he, reason why the hospital could not contact me. Maybe he could have given them my phone home number but did not know it. I thought all of this out, which is why I called missing persons. In other occasions, the person on the other side of the line has said, "we've got someone in this hospital but he does not have tattoos," etc., but this time the lady just took the info and said "we'll call you." Anyways, I'm going to call today and ask them how exactly this works if they aren't going to help.

 

[syngirl]

Sorry to sound rude, but an adult missing for 9 hours hardly falls within the realm of missing persons. If it did every saturday night they'd be flooded with calls from wives and girlfriends who's partners had just gone out for the night with their friends.

For someone only missing 9 hours you would have had to call hospital admissions and comisarias directly to find out if they have anyone. And if you don't have a cellphone and neither does he, it doesn't give the hospital a lot to work with either -- at least with a cellphone they might have a chance of looking through your call history to find someone they can ring to inform that they've checked him in.

 

[mc kenna]

I don't know how it is today, but t used to be that you were cosidered missing after 24 hours and no comisera had to take your denuncia until after 24 hours.
Also having a cell phone ,even a cheap one very basic for cases like this, is a good idea the ones you buy credit or a card work just fine