Omarya Sánchez, the girl who could not be rescued. She was only 13 years old when a volcano that had been dormant for 69 years decided to erupt. Omarya was trapped in the rubble of the house, where her father and aunt had been buried, but she managed to push her body up through the rubble, keeping her nose, mouth and eyes above the water. She started screaming non-stop until some people appeared. With much effort, they pulled the girl up, who was sinking rapidly, but they saw that it would be impossible without breaking her legs, the firefighters put a tire on her to serve as a buoy, since she was tired of holding on.
Only a miracle
The divers went down to analyze the situation of the poor girl and realized that it would be impossible to rescue her alive. There were no instruments needed for the surgery, moreover, if they performed the surgery on her, she would die instantly. So they decided to accompany Omarya to fate or death. The water level was rising, her lower limbs were crushed, then she received the news that she would only get out of this situation if a miracle happened.
The girl stood strong, sang and made fun of German Barragran, a journalist who volunteered in the face of the tragedy. Unfortunately, however, as the hours passed, and with the media exposure and many questions, she realized her reality and that’s when she began to cry, screaming to ask God for forgiveness and mercy and begging her mother for comfort, who followed everything in another city, unable to reach her. After 60 hours, Omarya said goodbye to the remaining members of her family and asked the media and people to go away and leave her alone to follow her destiny.
She said feeling death approaching
By then, the girl’s eyes had already turned red from infections. Her hands swelled and whitened just like the face. Her skin tight and wrinkled, she began to hallucinate, screaming that she was going to be late for school and that they had to get her out of there as soon as possible. On November 16th, 1985, at 9:45 a.m., Omayra Sánchez whispered “goodbye” to all the viewers in her life and died as a result of gangrene, hypothermia, and a collapsed lung.
Frank Fournier, a French photographer, was responsible for capturing the girl’s last moments of pain in an iconic deathbed photograph titled “The Agony of Omayra Sánchez.” The photo was awarded globally and entered Times magazine’s list of the 100 greatest captures in history. Fournier also expressed her feeling of total helplessness and sadness while taking the images, encouraged by the girl who faced death with patience, courage and dignity.
