Terrifying moment Colombian residents including children zipline over dangerously rapid river nearly five years after footbridge linking two town was destroyed by rain storm

This is the moment residents ziplined across a river nearly five years after a storm knocked down a wooden pedestrian that links two cities in north-central Colombia.

A man could be seen ziplining over the Chicamocha River while a child sat around his lap.

A young girl dressed in her school uniform was spotted struggling with the zipline.

The footbridge collapsed after rains in Molagavita destroyed the footbridge in 2019.

Judge Edward Avendaño previously instructed the Santander state government to work with the Molagavita municipality and the Risk Management Office to construct a military bridge.

However, residents are waiting for construction to begin.

A schoolgirl ziplines 328 feet across the Chicamocha River to reach her school nearly five years after a storm knocked out a pedestrian bridge that links the Molagavita rural neighborhoods of Felisco and Palmas de Felisco with Rio Chico, a sector in the municipality of Mogotes where the school is located 

Residents are seen often using a zipline to travel from the Molagavita rural neighborhoods of Felisco and Palmas de Felisco to Rio Chico, a sector in the municipality of Mogotes, where they attend school, shop and work 

The lack of a viable passage led Santander Ministry of Education to move more than 150 students to remote learning in January after it deemed that it was too dangerous for them to zipline from the Molagavita rural neighborhoods of Felisco and Palmas de Felisco to their school in Rio Chico, a sector in the municipality of Mogotes.

Parents were not satisfied with the level of education their children were receiving away from the classroom and two weeks ago notified local and state authorities that the students would be attending in-person.

Marcos Velázquez, an community leader in the city of Molagavita, expressed concerns over children between the ages of 4 and 15, women and the elderly utilizing the zipline to travel 328 feet over the fast-flowing river.

The other school option for children in Felisco and Palmas de Felisco takes up two hours of travel - one by foot and the other via motorcycles or cars.

A child fell into the river in 2022 and drowned. His body was recovered two days later.

A man uses his hands to slide down a zipline while a young boy sits on his lap

Residents wait their turn to use a zipline to travel between the municipalities of Molagavita and Mogotes in north-central Colombia

'It's the most dangerous thing there is. The kids live in total danger,' Velázquez told Noticias Caracol. 'The (cable) lines have been weakening. So, it was not safe to continue passing through there.'

Judge Avendaño went as far as indicating that parents should provide ziplining lessons to their children.

'That is totally illogical,' Velázquez said.

A memo obtained by Noticias Caracol showed that Santander authorities reached out to the administration of President Gustavo Petro in February and asked for assistance in the construction of a new bridge. 

'We are calling on the National Risk Management Unit to get serious about this, because the children are at risk, there is a failed guardianship,' Santander Governor Juvenal Díaz said. 

'We are going to have another meeting this week so that we can define the resources and we can build that important bridge for the children of those schools.'