LEFT TO DIE. A Young Girl's Public DEATH Being Trapped After a Mudslide - Omayra Sánchez, COLOMBIA

November 1985: Omayra Sanchez, 13 year-old victim of the
eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in Armero, Colombia
Source

You would think with all the technology at our disposal - even back then in 1985 when this tragedy occurred, that something could have been done to rescue this poor child
from the agony, she endured during her 60-hour ordeal.
The eruption of the volcano's 69-year dormancy caught everyone by surprise, including Omayra and her family but her faith was already set, living right in the path of destruction...

Omayra Sánchez Garzón (August 28, 1972 – November 16, 1985) was a Colombian girl killed in Armero, department of Tolima, by the 1985 eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano when she was 13 years old. Volcanic debris mixed with ice to form massive lahars (volcanically induced mudslides, landslides, and debris flows) that rushed into the river valleys below the mountain, killing nearly 23,000 people and destroying Armero and 13 other villages.

Armero was located in the center of this photograph, taken in late November 1985.
Source

After a lahar demolished her home, Sánchez became pinned beneath the debris of her house, where she remained trapped in water for three days. Her plight was documented as she descended from calmness into agony. Her courage and dignity touched journalists and relief workers, who put great efforts into comforting her. After 60 hours of struggling, she died, likely as a result of either gangrene or hypothermia. Her death highlighted the failure of officials to respond correctly to the threat of the volcano, contrasted with the efforts of volunteer rescue workers to reach and treat trapped victims, despite inadequate supplies and equipment.

"I reached the town of Ameroyo at dawn about three days after the explosion. I met a farmer who told me of this young girl who needed help. He took me to her, she was almost on her own at the time, just a few people around and some rescuers helping someone else a bit further away…

I could hear people screaming for help and then silence – an eerie silence. It was very haunting. There were a few helicopters, some that had been loaned by an oil company, trying to rescue people.

Then there was this little girl and people were powerless to help her. The rescuers kept coming back to her, local farmers and some people who had some medical aid. They tried to comfort her.

When I took the pictures I felt totally powerless in front of this little girl, who was facing death with courage and dignity. She could sense that her life was going.

By this stage, Omayra was drifting in and out of consciousness. She even asked me if I could take her to school because she was worried that she would be late.

I gave my film to some photographers who were going back to the airport and had them shipped back to my agent in Paris. Omayra died about three hours after I got there." - Photograper, Frank Fournier

A photograph of Sánchez (shown at beginning of the post), was taken by the photojournalist Frank Fournier shortly before she died and was published in news outlets around the world. It was later designated the World Press Photo of the Year for 1986. Sánchez has remained a lasting figure in popular culture, remembered through music, literature, and commemorative articles.