Volcanic Mudslide in Colombia
1986 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Spot News Photography
(shared with Michel du Cille)
TRAPPED - Omayra Sanchez looks up from her watery grave. The 13-year-old girl was trapped in the mudslide which covered her town of Armero, Columbia, killing more than 25,000 people. A concrete slab pinned her leg in water that submerged her family home. Although rescuers tried to free her, they were unsuccessful. After 59 hours she died, becoming a sad symbol of the devastating tragedy. Armero Columbia 1985.
The Story Behind the Story
Carol and Michel duCille had just 45 minutes to initially photograph the devastation from the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in Colombia on November 13, 1985. They traveled all day and night and then had to hike the last two hours to reach the remotely village of Amero where more than 20,000 of its 29,000 inhabitants were killed. An additional 3,000 more dead in neighboring villages. It was the second deadliest volcanic eruption of the 20th Century, and it took first responders 12 hours to reach the site.
When the photographers arrived they frantically tried to capture as much of the story as they could before they had to deliver their film to a plane headed to Miami. Their initial images, including that of Omayra Sanchez trapped in the muddy water, appeared on the front page of the Miami Herald the next day. The photograph of the 13 year old, with her intent stare into the camera, became international news and represented the plight of those killed or injured in the eruptions and the mudslide that followed.
Additional Images by Carol Guzy of the Armero mudslide in 1985
