In 1971, the newspaper El Universal dedicated a few lines to one of the few people in the artistic world who were good at everything: “Professor Zovek has an amazing capacity: from magic, acts of escapism, the world record of Lizards…”
On the night of March 10, 1972, Jacobo Zabludovsky’s 24-hour news program reported on the event. It was about the accident in which the “Incredible Professor Zovek”, born in Torreón, died on April 13, 1940, during a massive presentation in Cuautitlán, State of Mexico. El Siglo de Torreón published the details of the death, as did newspapers such as El Universal.
On March 11, 1972, El Siglo de Torreón announced the news of Zovek’s death on the main page through a note written by our beloved Miguel Ángel Ruelas Talamantes (qpd). “El Lagunero Professor Zovek died after falling from a helicopter,” was the title of the note in which Ruelas Talamantes mentions that the then deceased was a collaborator of El Siglo.
“Francisco Xavier Chapa del Bosque, known throughout Mexico and in other nations as Professor Zovek, originally from Torreón, Coahuila, met a tragic death yesterday when he broke free from the cable hanging from a helicopter while doing one of his famous escape acts.
“From about 200 meters high, Zovek fell to the ground and although he was immediately taken to the Cuatitlán civil hospital, nothing could be done to save his life. “We spoke by telephone with employees of the Cuatitlán Public Ministry Agency, where the accident occurred, and they told us that Zovek was the main figure in a show attended by thousands of people,” the journalist reported.
In the following days, El Siglo de Torreón released more articles about the investigation into the Lagunero’s death.
“He was killed in Cuautitlán,” was the headline of El Universal. It read that “before the astonished gaze of his wife and his four children, the popular professor Zovek killed himself yesterday while performing a daredevil acrobatic act hanging from a cable tied to a helicopter over the main square of the town of Cuautitlán.” .
And he continued: “Yesterday afternoon at approximately 6 p.m., the well-known illusionist Zovek, whose real name was Javier Chapa del Bosque, performed his acrobatic acts… Some 1,500 people witnessed those spectacular maneuvers.”
“While the helicopter began to descend, the maneuver apparently was perfect, but suddenly the helicopter performed a quick maneuver and began to rise, causing the illusionist to swing dangerously. Nobody realized what was happening, since everyone presumed that it was part of Professor Zovek’s act; However, he paled intensely, his hands tightly gripped the cable along which he slowly slid until he fell from a height of approximately 15 meters and crashed to the floor.
“It was exactly 6:45 p.m. when the doctor who examined the injured man declared that he had died. Meanwhile, there in what was the dramatic setting, his four children and his wife Josefina, whom the town itself picked up to take to the hospital where they were treated, were also left senseless – victims of nervous shocks.
The pilot declared to the media that during Professor Zovek’s event: “the device was about to collide with some electrical power cables, which forced him to quickly carry out the maneuver and rise again without the accident being able to be avoided.
On the same page of March 12, another note pointed out the investigations to clarify the causes that led to the Cuautitlán tragedy in which Professor Zovek was killed.
“The investigation is in order to point out the violations incurred by the pilot Javier Merino Arroyo.” Beforehand, the General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics stated that the pilot did not have a license to carry out the flight or do acrobatics with Zovek.
According to interviews with fellow aviators who knew Javier Merino, they attributed the accident to fatality, but not to the lack of skill or responsibility of the aviator pilot captain.
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2024-05-07 05:25:27