A Peru rescue mission to remember
Dana Ketzf reports on tensions in Peru during December, where dozens were killed in clashes between anti-government demonstrators and military officers – and how PassportCard helped rescue tourists in the area
Demonstrations and ensuing violence in Peru have hampered efforts by the new President, Dina Boluarte, to establish control over the country – with two ministers in her government resigning and protests in the streets.
The international health insurer, PassportCard, is well trained in the monitoring of international crisis operations and planning of rescue missions worldwide. The German-headquartered company, with offices worldwide, was recently recognised for taking an active stance in the war against Ukraine. They sent two rescue teams to the border, helping hundreds of its covered members, as well as others, escape from Ukraine into the Polish border, supporting them with food, accommodation and settlement in Europe. PassportCard also sent a rescue team to Nepal in 2015 – its chartered plane was the first aircraft to touch ground in the country – even before the Red Cross or United Nations.
This time, the international insurer started gathering intelligence from open and discrete sources over the progress of the riots, as well as evaluating the presence and whereabouts of its covered members in Peru. “Our major concern,” said Eithan Wolf, CEO of PassportCard Germany, “was that our members were located in restricted villages and towns for leisure trips of just a few days, and could not find an open and secure pathway to safe cities – where they could secure themselves and obtain the right equipment, including clothes, food and fresh water.”
PassportCard opened its crisis operations room to make immediate contact with all relevant clients and their family members, in order to obtain as much information about their personal status, health and equipment. The operation room was working in sync with all international offices of the insurer, as well as privately chartered rescue teams. In addition, the brokers made an immediate and direct approach to all partners worldwide, to help the company obtain as much clarity for any covered member suspected to need support in Peru, or other uncovered members that may require support along the way.
“Within 24 hours, it became clear that we needed to send a specially trained rescue team to Peru, together with medical support, in order to rescue a group of travellers who found themselves in a remote location, detached from safe routes back to the cities,” said Wolf. “There was no immediate danger to their lives, but we just couldn’t leave them with inadequate equipment and lack of food,” he added.
The safest path was by foot, and the rescue teams led the members on a 10km journey from the village of Aguas Calientes to a safer location
PassportCard sent the private rescue team, accompanied with the equipment, its members and medical professionals, to the tourist locations where their members were found to be stuck.
The first part of this complicated operation was to locate the dozens of members during the riots and accompany them outside the danger zone. The safest path was by foot, and the rescue teams led the members on a 10km journey from the village of Aguas Calientes to a safer location. This part of the operation was extremely challenging, where the rescue team physically supported the members in the difficult walk to safety.
Upon arrival, PassportCard started the second phase of the journey, onboarding all members to special vehicles to drive them to the city of Cusco. The third part of the operation was also important. At this point, there was no danger to the members’ lives, and it was evident that all equipment could be obtained in Cusco. Despite this information, the German-based insurer took another extraordinary action to support not only its members, but anyone else who needed help.
We are glad that we were able to lead our members, as well as many others who simply needed us, safely out of the area
“We decided to charter a private plane and onboard the members rescued by our teams, but not only them,” said Wolf. “We contacted all our brokers worldwide and contacts in Peru, offering anyone that needed our support [the opportunity] to register for our chartered flight directly to Lima, where we knew conditions were better and safer for the teams.” Within hours, PassportCard was able to fill the full plane with registered covered members, and others simply needing help, taking full care of all the processes and expenses of this operation and flight.
“We are glad that we were able to lead our members, as well as many others who simply needed us, safely out of the area,” said Wolf. “In these cases, we never look at the printed word of the policy’s terms and conditions; we simply do what we feel we are mandated to do – making sure that our teams are really cared for.”
The European insurer was also recently recognised on the news for closing one of the largest-scale coverage agreements with Deutsche Lufthansa, in which it reportedly covered around 23,000 aircrew members of Lufthansa around the world, under an administration service mechanism (self-pay insurance scheme).