Omayra Sánchez was a little 13 year old girl who lived in Armero when the “Nevado del Ruíz” volcano erupted in November 1985. The eruption caused Volcanic debris mixed with ice to form massive lahars (volcanically induced mudflows, landslides, and debris flow) which rushed into the river valleys below the mountain, killing about 25,000 people and destroying Armero and 13 other villages..
When the lahar destroyed her house, her father and aunt died inside.
She was able to survive the lahar, but when rescue teams tried to help her, they realized that her legs were trapped under her house’s roof. Once the girl was freed from the waist up, her rescuers attempted to pull her out but found the task impossible without breaking her legs in the process.
Rescue workers placed a tyre around her body to avoid her drowning. Divers discovered that Sánchez’s legs were caught under a door made of bricks, with her aunt’s body under her feet.
Despite her predicament, Sánchez remained relatively positive: she sang to Germán Santa María Barragán, a journalist who was working as a volunteer, asked for sweet food, drank soda, and agreed to be interviewed.
At times, she was scared and prayed or cried. On the third night, Sánchez began hallucinating, saying that she did not want to be late for school, and mentioned a math exam.
Near the end of her life, Sánchez’s eyes reddened, her face swelled, and her hands whitened as seen in some of the pictures
At one point she asked the people to leave her so they could rest. Hours later the workers returned with a pump and tried to save her, but her legs were bent under the concrete as if she was kneeling, and it was impossible to free her without severing her legs. See the last slide to see how the legs were trapped
In all, Sánchez suffered for nearly three nights (roughly 60 hours) before she died at approximately 10:05 A.M. on November 16 1985 from exposure, most likely from gangrene or hypothermia.
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