Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente place of death Shaktoolik
Death
On March 4, 1980 Félix presented in the Centro Cultural de la Villa (Madrid) a document entitled Global Strategy for the Protection of Biodiversity and Sustainable Growth issued by the International Union for Conservation of Nature before the king and queen of Spain as special guests. He flew to Alaska on the 10th along with the film crew of El hombre y la tierra to cover the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. The team hired pilot Tony Oney and his partner Warren Dobson. Most of the team travelled in Oney's small Cessna. Oney's plane sustained a small oil leak. Felix, who was afraid of flying, decided only at the last minute to fly in Dobson's aircraft. Shortly before take off he commented "what a beautiful place to die." After taking off from Unalakleet, the two planes initiated a route toward the Pacific coast. After a short while, one of the ski boots of Dobson's plane came loose causing the plane to become unbalanced and to crash. Because of insufficient altitude, the experienced pilot was unable to steady the plane. All passengers, including Televisión Española cameraman Teodoro Roa and the assistant Alberto Mariano Huéscar, died in the accident. Oney landed nearby and was the first to reach the site of the crash. The exact location of the tragedy was Shaktoolik, an Inuit settlement about 25 kilometers from the coast of the Bering Sea, not far from Klondike. This area had long lived in Felix's imagination since his readings of Jack London as a teenager.Alaska police recovered the bodies, which were then deposited in the morgue at Nome to be repatriated to Spain shortly after. Rodríguez de la Fuente had been slightly ill earlier that week as a result of a painful toothache, but twelve hours before his death he was in good health and making plans for two new films: one on the albatross of Cordova, Alaska, and another on the Aleutian Islands.
While in North America, Rodríguez de la Fuente and his team had become popular in the Canadian Yukon: in Dawson City, Whitehorse, and Yellowknife; and in Alaska: in Nome, Anchorage, and Fairbanks. The headline of one of the local newspaper read: "Farewell to the Spanish Jack London."
According to the American register of aviation accidents, the crash took place at 12:30, March 14, 1980, Alaska local time. That day was his 52nd birthday. News of the accident was released in Spain a few hours later, early in the morning of March 15. His death shocked the country.
Felix was buried in the cemetery of his hometown of Poza de la Sal (Burgos, Spain) with thousands in attendance. In June 1981, at the request of his widow, Marcelle Parmentier, his remains were exhumed and transferred to Burgos cemetery. The pantheon was designed by architect Miguel Fisac and sculptor Pablo Serrano. The controversial transfer was made at night to prevent confronting the inhabitants and authorities of Poza de la Sal who wished his remains to stay at his birthplace.
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