Omayra suffered an agonising death three days after becoming trapped under the roof of her own home
‘Mommy, I love you so much’ were some of a 13-year-old girl’s last words before she tragically passed away.
For this story, we’ll have to hark back to November 1985, when the Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupted in Armero, Columbia.
A staggering 25,000 people were estimated to have lost their lives as the aftermath of the eruption saw 14 nearby villages completely destroyed, but none were more tragic than the death of Omayra Sánchez Garzón.
The Columbian girl became known around the world as the face of the disaster as she took three days before succumbing to an agonising death – all while being photographed.
When the volcano erupted, a deadly landslide occurred from a volatile mixture of volcanic lava and ice that was brought about, known as lahar, and gushed into the river valleys below and towards the nearby villages.
One of those was home to Omayra and her family.
The thick mudslide engulfed entire cars, building and thousands of people.
Omayra herself became trapped underneath the roof of her own home, which was pinned underwater by concrete and debris, for three days from 13 November, 1985, when the volcano erupted, until 16 November – when she died.
.webp)
Omayra Sánchez Garzón became the face of a disaster in 1985 as she suffered for hours before succumbing to her injuries. (Wikimedia Commons)
Journalists, photographers, TV crews, Red Cross workers and emergency officials had gathered around her and attempted to make her as comfortable as possible in her final moments.
So why didn’t they try and help her?
Well, they did but there was nothing anyone could do.
They could only watch the teen in anguish as rescue efforts failed again, and again, and again – this was due to her legs being pinned underneath the home, which divers discovered as they attempted to free her.
The only option they had was to amputate both of her legs, but they didn’t have the resources to deal with the aftermath, so she would have died in even more pain.
Tragically, on her final day, she began hallucinating and told bystanders how she couldn’t be late for school as she claimed she had a maths test.
Omayra died three days after becoming trapped under the roof of her own home following the volcanic eruption. (Pool BOUVET/DUCLOS/HIRES/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
Her eyes had now become so bloodshot that they appeared black, while her hands had whitened and her face had swelled.
In her final words she spoke directly to a camera, in a loving dote to her family: “Mommy, I love you so much, daddy I love you, brother I love you.”
She later passed away, with her death believed to have been as a result of gangrene or hypothermia.
The landslide killed Omayra’s dad and aunt, but her brother survived as well as her mom who was in Bogota at the time of the eruption.
She later said about Omayra’s death: “It is horrible, but we have to think about the living… I will live for my son, who only lost a finger.”
The Colombian government were heavily criticized for their lack of preparation amid the threat of the volcano in the wake of Omayra’s death.
