A 13-year-old girl was swallowed by volcanic mud
A 13-year-old girl was swallowed by volcanic mud. The world watched. Nobody could save her.
On November 13, 1985, the Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupted in Colombia. Traveling at 6 meters per second, a massive wall of mud enveloped most of the town of Armero, killing as many as 20,000 people.
Omayra Sánchez Garzón was just 13 years old. After the lahar demolished her home, she was trapped beneath the debris, where she remained in water for three days, as rescue workers had no way to free her hopelessly pinned legs. Divers discovered her legs were caught under a brick door, with her dead aunt’s arms clutched tightly around her legs and feet.
The prolonged submersion and pressure of the debris pinning her resulted in intensely bloodshot eyes, giving them the haunting black appearance seen in the famous photograph.
On the third night, she began hallucinating, saying she did not want to be late for school and mentioned a math exam. “Mummy, I love you very much” were her devastating last words.
After nearly 60 hours, she died from gangrene or hypothermia. Photographer Frank Fournier’s image of her, showing her black-eyed and drenched in mud, won the 1986 World Press Photo of the Year. Fournier believed the photo “helped raise money from around the world in aid and helped highlight the irresponsibility and lack of courage of the country’s leaders.”
