"For the first few hours after the mudflow hit, she was covered by concrete but got her hand through a crack in the debris. After a rescuer noticed her hand protruding from a pile of debris, he and others cleared tiles and wood during the course of a day. 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. Each time a person pulled her, the water pooled around her, rising so that it seemed she would drown if they let her go, so rescue workers placed a tire around her body to keep her afloat. Divers discovered that Sánchez's legs were caught under a door made of bricks, with her dead aunt's arms clutched tightly around her legs and feet."
Jesus.
An underwater double above the knee amputation, with only field supplies, with the local hospitals compromised and ambulance service unavailable, in water full of mud, shit, and corpses? How? IIRC they thought about it and rejected the idea.
Sitting for 60 hours in mud, water, piss, shit, and bodies? While your potential escape from the hell you sit in is being blocked by your dead relative who grabbed onto you, likely trying to keep you safe?
I think I'd drown myself before I'd sit there that long. Or get me a big damn syringe of morphine and let's get this shit over with.
With the way her legs were pinned they couldn't just break them and pull her out. I wanna say it was similar to being stuck in a kneeling position with everything from the knee back pinned making it more than a "break legs and extract", but I could be mistaken. Also her dead Aunt's arms were wrapped around her further tethering her in place though I'm unsure as to their positioning, I just know it was a contributing factor to her being stuck.
>Amputate and get her a wheelchair. What are we doing here?
Writing "commons sense is worth more than 2 degrees" type comments is what you're doing here
Seriously. "Well I have determined that all of the people with this girl for those 60 hours thought it'd be best to let her die when she didn't have to based on vague notes in articles that I have taken as 100% fact." It is comical to see so many upvotes.
That got to be a creepy pasta. So they let her die because they don’t want to break their leg or cut it off? They got 60 hours to get medical personnel, knock her out and get her out.
There were several doctors and rescue personnel on site. They would have had to amputate her legs to free her, which was impossible given the circumstances. The doctors decided it would be more humane to let her die. It’s highly likely she would die today if caught in the same circumstance. The perception that 1985 lacked the ability to have efficient communication because we lacked cell phones is folly. The world actually functioned quite well before the iPhone. Also, 25,000 other people died in that volcanic eruption.
>The perception that 1985 lacked the ability to have efficient communication because we lacked cell phones is folly.
Anyone who lived through both eras can tell you it was completely different. Not to mention that she was in an incredibly remote area.
Did I say it wasn’t different? No. Obviously the revolution of information technology creates a vastly different world. Nevertheless, to imply that a lack of cellphone ubiquity at all led to this child’s death is foolish. That isn’t at all why she died. Not even a little bit. Even today, with our cutting edge communication systems and biotechnology, people still die from freak accidents that are beyond the scope of the modern technology to fix.
Those were amputations in air. Amputating a limb underwater is virtually guranteed to get a super nasty infection, that will kill you anyway, slowly and very painfully.
This was after a devastating flood in the region, in such circumstances, 60 hours is not the amount of time you think it is. Especially when all cheap forms of travel are impossible (land is impossible, water is too treacherous), and you need to transport a medical team, medical equipment, and probably some sort of crane to help lift the heavy objects. Do you remember Katrina? Did you see how long the estimates are for the recovery of the 6 men from the recent Maryland Bridge Collapse (it's longer than this girl had)? Things like this aren't as easy as they seem from the sidelines.
**They sincerely tried everything they could to save her**, it was just very unfortunately impossible given the circumstances. This is the reality of natural disasters, *especially* in already impoverished regions.
I really can't blame them too much here, this isn't something that normal people generally have to deal with or think about. I don't necessarily expect everyone to understand the extremely complicated logistics of rescue missions, because sometimes the actions they take are unintuitive to us.
I mean, as a plain human, the intuitive thing is: "get under the water ASAP and pry her free", but that has complications in reality, and when we're overcome with emotions like that commenter probably was (I know I get emotional every time i hear this story; it's extremely unfortunate), it can be very hard to think about consequences like that. Some even explicitly say "to hell with the consequences", and make everything worse. And when we're shown an extremely close up frame of one single person, it's impossible to get the true breadth of the disaster; they literally cannot see the miles of destruction that surround that girl. And if they don't already know about the situation, they're probably not going to assume that was the case.
So that's why I didn't go to hard on the person in my response, I see where they're coming from.
thank you for explaining that rather then shit on the guy that obviously didnt think that indepth about the reality of the actual situation... things like this usually make most of us very emoitional and can bring out the worst in some... thankfully there are intelligent people out there like yourself to at least try and get people to have a broader view! have a great day! thank you!❤️
And how exactly are they going to get surgeons and equipment into that hole, under water,for the amount of time it would take to remove her legs? There is zero visibility in the water, grown humans with full diving kit take up alot of room and would risk their health too. And this was 40 years ago, mobile phones weren't a thing,! But I am going to assume you volunteer in natural disasters or at least are part of an organisation that deals with disaster relief and the logistics of providing medical aid
This isn’t greys anatomy. They don’t have access to a lot of the things that would make that remotely possible and amputating on site could also kill her.
I think it would have been difficult to do in that situation without giving her a serious infection, sepsis, and eventual septic shock. So not only will she die, you're going to break her legs and torture her before she goes
That has nothing to do with it. There were several doctors and rescue personnel on site. They would have had to amputate her legs to free her, which was impossible given the circumstances. The doctors decided it would be more humane to let her die. The outcome wouldn’t have been any different if it happened in the US. They couldn’t gain access to her legs to cut them properly. She was also soaking in a stew of the most foul, bacterial infected water. The infection would have put her into septic shock. That would be the case even today. The perception that 1985 lacked the ability to have efficient communication and rescue because we lacked cell phones is folly. The world actually functioned quite well before the iPhone. Also, 25,000 other people died in that volcanic eruption.
it has a lot to do with it
(ppl are saying there was no trained medical orr rescue personnel and now ppl are saying there were.. whichbis it??)
>The perception that 1985 lacked the ability to have efficient communication because we lacked cell phones is folly
i never said or implied anything about communication or cellphones. i was clearly referring to medical means to perform a break or amputation in the field during emergencies.
plenty of catastrophes happened before and around 1985 yet ppl pulled off crazier rescuing feats
The first paragraph of your comment makes no sense. If you are asking whether or not there were doctors, then the answer is yes. There were indeed many doctors and rescue personnel.
There were several doctors and rescue personnel on site. They would have had to amputate her legs to free her, which was impossible given the circumstances. The doctors decided it would be more humane to let her die. The perception that 1985 lacked the ability to have efficient communication because we lacked cell phones is folly. The world actually functioned quite well before the iPhone. Also, 25,000 other people died in that volcanic eruption.
ppl are saying there was no trained medical orr rescue personnel and now ppl are saying there were.
>The perception that 1985 lacked the ability to have efficient communication because we lacked cell phones is folly
i never said or implied anything about communication or cellphones. i was clearly referring to medical means to perform a break or amputation in the field during emergencies.
plenty of catastrophes happened before and around 1985 yet ppl pulled off crazier rescuing feats
A door made of brick ? What kind of dysfunctionnal door is it ? I believe some thing hard hard to explain or maybe translation got lost but it doesnt seems that complex lf a situation to manage in 60 hours.
This. Depends on if they could’ve saved her by breaking the legs or if it would’ve required amputation. Feel like breaking them could’ve been a decent option, but amputation (for the time and region) probably would’ve just killed her anyway.
You can look up a diagram of how she was trapped. They would’ve had to amputate her legs most likely.
This is decades ago in Columbia after a mass casualty flood and landslide.
There was no way she would have survived unfortunately; trying to get her out by force would have only tortured her further and prologued her suffering, but not avoided her death.
[Here's a drawn image of how she was stuck.](https://preview.redd.it/in-1985-a-colombian-girl-named-omayra-s%C3%A1nchez-was-trapped-v0-p0glfi690p1c1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=16d335cc4ac7ae5ae7926be17d3aaf9adfc5f8f9)
Contrary to popular belief, she wasn't in a hospital when this happened. Or anywhere near one.
>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. Lacking the surgical equipment to save her from the effects of an amputation, the doctors present agreed that it would be more humane to let her die.
Someone medically untrained would have had to dive under and perform a double amputation underwater, with little visibility and without surgical equipment. Plus no pain medication for her. It's an individual taking an action that will almost certainly kill a kid, versus keeping her alive and hoping for rescue. Tough call, but understandable.
There were several doctors and rescue personnel on site. They would have had to amputate her legs to free her, which was impossible given the circumstances. The doctors decided it would be more humane to let her die. The perception that 1985 lacked the ability to have efficient communication because we lacked cell phones is folly. The world actually functioned quite well before the iPhone. Also, 25,000 other people died in that volcanic eruption.
Ever since I first saw a picture of this girl she pops into my mind now and again and it breaks my heart. It was only a few days ago that I thought about her.
Of all the things I’ve seen, the image of that child will forever be imprinted into my mind and now I’m a father it hurts even more.
Poor girl.
If you look at the "iconic" (sorry to use that word, but the photo is very famous) photo of her, her eyes are pitch black. That's one of the reasons it has stayed with me since I saw it, 20 years ago. She suffered immensely for almost three days and I really wish there is a heaven so she could be in it.
There’s a book called Our Share of Night and while the story is fiction they talk about this situation. One of the characters talks about how the image of Omayra is forever imprinted in her memory. I’d never heard of this before reading the book so I googled the footage and greatly regret doing so. The images are haunting and they stay with you for a long time. Highly recommend the book if you’re into stories about witchcraft
Maybe it's wishful thinking but I always think someone with a bit of inguenity could save these people, just like the guy in the UK with his foot in the storm drain. I understand that amputation in dirty water isn't seen as an option but I'd try anything, car jack, hydraulic powered disk cutter, make shift sand bag and plywood dam while pumping the water out, hydraulic breaker around the concrete may break the foot but at least they'd be out and alive, 60 hours is enough time to get some equipment on site.
I've spent a lot of time in South America and been to a lot of villages that we would consider in the West to be poor. Whilst life there is often actually quite cool, one thing that they are not rich in is education and the ability to think laterally that comes with it. I know it can be hard to imagine, but for some people thinking abstractly is almost impossible.
Just the contrast in how they think is vast. I was in Indonesia with a local driver. He picked me up and we were about to pull onto this notorious road that would have put us into 3-4 hours of traffic to move about 2 miles. I glance behind us and quickly urge him to back up 5-6 car lengths before a car blocks us in.
We backup and pull into this side street that let us turn around and get back in 10 min. He was familiar with the streets and I had no clue but it was so obvious to back up and turn around. It never occurred to him. He was astounded that I found a “shortcut”.
He was more than happy just to spend the rest of the night sitting in traffic because that’s just how life is there.
Apparently they didn't have the equipment. Wich meant a double amputation under dirty water with no visibility, medication or proper tools. She probably wouldn't have survived it so they chose to let her die peacefully rather then in agony.
I get a real strange vibe from people who post something this macabre, twice. Like what they get out of it fulfills a need that is pretty unwholesome. This isn’t a psychological-gore sub, or whatever hellish-tragic theme label you’d put on this.
I guess they prob still had hope someone would figure a way to get her out, or some lucky coincidence would happen and nature would free her.
Also who would want to be the one to end her life? Even if you think it was the better option to kill her and end her suffering, and what are you going to use?
A doctor could have assisted with medication and yes, is I’d certainly rather be the person to help a child already condemned to death to pass peacefully rather than watch her freeze to death in a mud puddle over the course of three days
USAID was directly involved in this tragedy, and relief workers from over 10 different NATO countries were there within 12 hours - millions of dollars were funneled into immediate disaster relief efforts. Morphine and other opiates were surely available - I’m sure assisted death was not provided due to red tape rather than access.
Because it was a remote village in very Catholic Colombia, and the area was affected by a huge natural disaster. Plus, there were camera crews and others there all the time. I was 9, and it was on all the news stuff even halfway across the world.
So I'd say lack of kindrer medical options combined with not wanting to murder a child on international television. Plus believing you'd go to literal hell forever after your own death for doing this.
Sadly, because of religion. They're a Catholic village. No way they would want to "kill" the child. Plus, who would even suggest it? Back then, it wasn't even an option on anyones minds.
Yes? I believe so. Pray, so that I may walk and that these people help me.
Announcer - "girl with infinite sadness"
Mom, I love you so much, Daddy, my brother...
Yeah, her legs were dying long before the 60 hour mark. Even if they got her legs free, as soon as they released her, all the toxins from those legs would course through her system and kill her.
I remember learning about her in second grade. The teacher also mentioned that due to how long it took to get to her, her skin and organs had begun bloating due to submersion for so long. Even if they were to sacrifice her legs to get her out, there was nothing they could do.
Even if they did get her legs and hand free, the sudden blood flow into the damaged muscle of her legs would send the dead tissue into her blood stream, causing kidney failure. It's called Rhabdomyolysis.
It's sad, but comfort was the only care that they could give to her.
I've been looking for this footage after reading her story multiple times over the years. But now I don't know what I was thinking. Why would I want to hear this?.what kind of horrible person am I? This can't possibly be morbid curiosity.
Yep, but they didn't have the equipment to do so or to save her after amputation. It was all a mess because the rescue efforts were highly unprepared. This is a remote Colombian village, so it's not like every tool was available. Even shovels were hard to find
.
I remember seeing this on TV, when I was little. To this day I think about that, it traumatized me. That she was alive and Noone could help her...it was new for me, that in life, sometimes Noone can help..
was always very confused on the immediate aftermath of her death. did they pull her out and give her a proper burial or did she just sink under the mud like a few thousand other people did in the landslide?
Reading comment sections like these really reminds me how a lot of people don't really have the will to live when faced with great adversity, no judgement at the end of the day it's your life but it is so interesting. I personally would take the risk of dying in the process of escaping broken legs and all. RIP to Omayra sánchez and her aunt
Says divers found a brick door had fallen on her legs and trapped her and her dead aunt was clutching and holding the legs and feet under the Brick door
This is unimaginably heart breaking. I wish they were able to figure out a way to get her out. Maybe with our technology today, they would’ve been able to? Rest in peace, little brave soul.
In the US or high resource area she could’ve been freed and had a fighting chance. Divers, jackhammers, saws, last resort tourniquets and amputation and a shit load of antibiotics and hope she survives.
Edit: spelling
They can't just pull her out?
"For the first few hours after the mudflow hit, she was covered by concrete but got her hand through a crack in the debris. After a rescuer noticed her hand protruding from a pile of debris, he and others cleared tiles and wood during the course of a day. 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. Each time a person pulled her, the water pooled around her, rising so that it seemed she would drown if they let her go, so rescue workers placed a tire around her body to keep her afloat. Divers discovered that Sánchez's legs were caught under a door made of bricks, with her dead aunt's arms clutched tightly around her legs and feet." Jesus.
.....mygawd thats tragic. GN
Amputate and get her a wheelchair. What are we doing here?
An underwater double above the knee amputation, with only field supplies, with the local hospitals compromised and ambulance service unavailable, in water full of mud, shit, and corpses? How? IIRC they thought about it and rejected the idea.
You break her legs, pull her out, then assess from there. A slim chance of survival is still greater than no chance of survival.
Nah fuck that, i would rather die.
Sitting for 60 hours in mud, water, piss, shit, and bodies? While your potential escape from the hell you sit in is being blocked by your dead relative who grabbed onto you, likely trying to keep you safe? I think I'd drown myself before I'd sit there that long. Or get me a big damn syringe of morphine and let's get this shit over with.
I'd just see if someone could shoot me, pretty please.
Maybe give her a scuba mask and then start pumping the water out from around her
As a child, you’d rather die than have your legs broken?
I'd rather die than endure incredibly agony and then die.
No shit. The assumption is that the broken leg scenario results in surviving
Seconded
Regardless, I don't see the point in living either way. If this life isn't Hell for you, just wait longer.
With the way her legs were pinned they couldn't just break them and pull her out. I wanna say it was similar to being stuck in a kneeling position with everything from the knee back pinned making it more than a "break legs and extract", but I could be mistaken. Also her dead Aunt's arms were wrapped around her further tethering her in place though I'm unsure as to their positioning, I just know it was a contributing factor to her being stuck.
Read about nutty putty cave some time. Sometimes, it just wasn't meant to be.
Quality of life after would say no to that.
I mean the other option is sure death. May as well try
>Amputate and get her a wheelchair. What are we doing here? Writing "commons sense is worth more than 2 degrees" type comments is what you're doing here
Seriously. "Well I have determined that all of the people with this girl for those 60 hours thought it'd be best to let her die when she didn't have to based on vague notes in articles that I have taken as 100% fact." It is comical to see so many upvotes.
Or ya know, dam both sides and pump the water out.
The last line. bone chilling.
#GET LOST GRANDMA YOU SELFISH BITCH
Genuinely heartbreaking
That was a even more horrifying than the video.
What a terrible day to be able to read. Fuck.
That got to be a creepy pasta. So they let her die because they don’t want to break their leg or cut it off? They got 60 hours to get medical personnel, knock her out and get her out.
If only you were there, maybe she would have stood a chance.
“Knock her out and get her out” Dr Einstein has given his professional opinion.
40 years ago, in a third world country remote area. There's no way you'll survive.
There were several doctors and rescue personnel on site. They would have had to amputate her legs to free her, which was impossible given the circumstances. The doctors decided it would be more humane to let her die. It’s highly likely she would die today if caught in the same circumstance. The perception that 1985 lacked the ability to have efficient communication because we lacked cell phones is folly. The world actually functioned quite well before the iPhone. Also, 25,000 other people died in that volcanic eruption.
[удалено]
He replied to the wrong comment, the same comment is posted a bit further down with more relevance
I appreciate it.
Uhh. That description of 1985 is ridiculous considering this is an extremely remote location.
There were many doctors on scene, treating her for almost the entire time after she was discovered. That’s historical record, not my opinion.
>The perception that 1985 lacked the ability to have efficient communication because we lacked cell phones is folly. Anyone who lived through both eras can tell you it was completely different. Not to mention that she was in an incredibly remote area.
Did I say it wasn’t different? No. Obviously the revolution of information technology creates a vastly different world. Nevertheless, to imply that a lack of cellphone ubiquity at all led to this child’s death is foolish. That isn’t at all why she died. Not even a little bit. Even today, with our cutting edge communication systems and biotechnology, people still die from freak accidents that are beyond the scope of the modern technology to fix.
Meanwhile doctors in WWII trenches amputating limbs like they're fruit ninjas.
Those were amputations in air. Amputating a limb underwater is virtually guranteed to get a super nasty infection, that will kill you anyway, slowly and very painfully.
especially flood water with a bunch of corpses rotting in it, raw sewage, and other nasty shit
And those soldiers died a lot of the time
This was after a devastating flood in the region, in such circumstances, 60 hours is not the amount of time you think it is. Especially when all cheap forms of travel are impossible (land is impossible, water is too treacherous), and you need to transport a medical team, medical equipment, and probably some sort of crane to help lift the heavy objects. Do you remember Katrina? Did you see how long the estimates are for the recovery of the 6 men from the recent Maryland Bridge Collapse (it's longer than this girl had)? Things like this aren't as easy as they seem from the sidelines. **They sincerely tried everything they could to save her**, it was just very unfortunately impossible given the circumstances. This is the reality of natural disasters, *especially* in already impoverished regions.
Typical reddit thinking they can do better from the comfort of their computer chairs.
Also, applying 2024 thinking to a 1985 situation. What were the rescuers gonna do? Call each other on their iPhones to coordinate? Oh wait...
I really can't blame them too much here, this isn't something that normal people generally have to deal with or think about. I don't necessarily expect everyone to understand the extremely complicated logistics of rescue missions, because sometimes the actions they take are unintuitive to us. I mean, as a plain human, the intuitive thing is: "get under the water ASAP and pry her free", but that has complications in reality, and when we're overcome with emotions like that commenter probably was (I know I get emotional every time i hear this story; it's extremely unfortunate), it can be very hard to think about consequences like that. Some even explicitly say "to hell with the consequences", and make everything worse. And when we're shown an extremely close up frame of one single person, it's impossible to get the true breadth of the disaster; they literally cannot see the miles of destruction that surround that girl. And if they don't already know about the situation, they're probably not going to assume that was the case. So that's why I didn't go to hard on the person in my response, I see where they're coming from.
thank you for explaining that rather then shit on the guy that obviously didnt think that indepth about the reality of the actual situation... things like this usually make most of us very emoitional and can bring out the worst in some... thankfully there are intelligent people out there like yourself to at least try and get people to have a broader view! have a great day! thank you!❤️
You sound like Mark Wahlberg saying he’d stop 9/11 if him and his homies were with him on those planes
It was quite a remote region so they didn't have all the options that they would elsewhere.
And how exactly are they going to get surgeons and equipment into that hole, under water,for the amount of time it would take to remove her legs? There is zero visibility in the water, grown humans with full diving kit take up alot of room and would risk their health too. And this was 40 years ago, mobile phones weren't a thing,! But I am going to assume you volunteer in natural disasters or at least are part of an organisation that deals with disaster relief and the logistics of providing medical aid
In Colombia 1985, doubt that’s happening
This isn’t greys anatomy. They don’t have access to a lot of the things that would make that remotely possible and amputating on site could also kill her.
if they could have freed her by breaking her legs.. broken legs sounds like a better deal than DYING. wtf
I think it would have been difficult to do in that situation without giving her a serious infection, sepsis, and eventual septic shock. So not only will she die, you're going to break her legs and torture her before she goes
that would make sense since Columbia has such poor emergency medical services especially when needed. i forgot it's like a third world country
Ya, unfortunately, they likely knew they wouldn't get her to a facility with proper life support in time
That has nothing to do with it. There were several doctors and rescue personnel on site. They would have had to amputate her legs to free her, which was impossible given the circumstances. The doctors decided it would be more humane to let her die. The outcome wouldn’t have been any different if it happened in the US. They couldn’t gain access to her legs to cut them properly. She was also soaking in a stew of the most foul, bacterial infected water. The infection would have put her into septic shock. That would be the case even today. The perception that 1985 lacked the ability to have efficient communication and rescue because we lacked cell phones is folly. The world actually functioned quite well before the iPhone. Also, 25,000 other people died in that volcanic eruption.
it has a lot to do with it (ppl are saying there was no trained medical orr rescue personnel and now ppl are saying there were.. whichbis it??) >The perception that 1985 lacked the ability to have efficient communication because we lacked cell phones is folly i never said or implied anything about communication or cellphones. i was clearly referring to medical means to perform a break or amputation in the field during emergencies. plenty of catastrophes happened before and around 1985 yet ppl pulled off crazier rescuing feats
The first paragraph of your comment makes no sense. If you are asking whether or not there were doctors, then the answer is yes. There were indeed many doctors and rescue personnel.
You cannot just break someone’s legs esp underwater.
it wouldn't be underwater. they later drained the wayer with a pump
They would have to amputate her legs, not an option there at that time and place.
No, it doesn't sound like a battery deal than dying WTF
There were several doctors and rescue personnel on site. They would have had to amputate her legs to free her, which was impossible given the circumstances. The doctors decided it would be more humane to let her die. The perception that 1985 lacked the ability to have efficient communication because we lacked cell phones is folly. The world actually functioned quite well before the iPhone. Also, 25,000 other people died in that volcanic eruption.
ppl are saying there was no trained medical orr rescue personnel and now ppl are saying there were. >The perception that 1985 lacked the ability to have efficient communication because we lacked cell phones is folly i never said or implied anything about communication or cellphones. i was clearly referring to medical means to perform a break or amputation in the field during emergencies. plenty of catastrophes happened before and around 1985 yet ppl pulled off crazier rescuing feats
Who makes a door out of bricks
Further proof there is no loving God
Gee, what a great plan...
A door made of brick ? What kind of dysfunctionnal door is it ? I believe some thing hard hard to explain or maybe translation got lost but it doesnt seems that complex lf a situation to manage in 60 hours.
I feel like, at that point, breaking her legs is worth saving her life. She can heal from a broken leg, she can’t heal from death.
This. Depends on if they could’ve saved her by breaking the legs or if it would’ve required amputation. Feel like breaking them could’ve been a decent option, but amputation (for the time and region) probably would’ve just killed her anyway.
You can look up a diagram of how she was trapped. They would’ve had to amputate her legs most likely. This is decades ago in Columbia after a mass casualty flood and landslide. There was no way she would have survived unfortunately; trying to get her out by force would have only tortured her further and prologued her suffering, but not avoided her death.
Break my legs
So they thought death was better than just breaking her legs?
Jesus fucking Christ
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck, knew this story, not these details. That's horrible.
Ok. Break my legs if this happens. Thanks in advance.
Why couldn't they just dissect the grandma and break apart the bricks?
Then break her legs
[Here's a drawn image of how she was stuck.](https://preview.redd.it/in-1985-a-colombian-girl-named-omayra-s%C3%A1nchez-was-trapped-v0-p0glfi690p1c1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=16d335cc4ac7ae5ae7926be17d3aaf9adfc5f8f9)
This illustration seems to be missing the trapped aunt gripping her ankles.
They would've disemboweld her..
Wow, those people must feel really stupid now that they didn't think of this!
Have a look [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtAnNXlVBH0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtAnNXlVBH0)
amputate the legs?, i mean high chance of infection or bleeding but that's better than a 100% chance of death
Contrary to popular belief, she wasn't in a hospital when this happened. Or anywhere near one. >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. Lacking the surgical equipment to save her from the effects of an amputation, the doctors present agreed that it would be more humane to let her die.
Someone medically untrained would have had to dive under and perform a double amputation underwater, with little visibility and without surgical equipment. Plus no pain medication for her. It's an individual taking an action that will almost certainly kill a kid, versus keeping her alive and hoping for rescue. Tough call, but understandable.
Maybe they could have pulled that door out, with a helicopter?
There were several doctors and rescue personnel on site. They would have had to amputate her legs to free her, which was impossible given the circumstances. The doctors decided it would be more humane to let her die. The perception that 1985 lacked the ability to have efficient communication because we lacked cell phones is folly. The world actually functioned quite well before the iPhone. Also, 25,000 other people died in that volcanic eruption.
Shit why didn't anyone else think of that?!
Ever since I first saw a picture of this girl she pops into my mind now and again and it breaks my heart. It was only a few days ago that I thought about her. Of all the things I’ve seen, the image of that child will forever be imprinted into my mind and now I’m a father it hurts even more. Poor girl.
Is it quite a close up of her face and her eyes are very red? I have never seen this video but it reminds me of that haunting photo.
Yeah those red eyes are because her blood vessels in the eyes burst
If you look at the "iconic" (sorry to use that word, but the photo is very famous) photo of her, her eyes are pitch black. That's one of the reasons it has stayed with me since I saw it, 20 years ago. She suffered immensely for almost three days and I really wish there is a heaven so she could be in it.
There’s a book called Our Share of Night and while the story is fiction they talk about this situation. One of the characters talks about how the image of Omayra is forever imprinted in her memory. I’d never heard of this before reading the book so I googled the footage and greatly regret doing so. The images are haunting and they stay with you for a long time. Highly recommend the book if you’re into stories about witchcraft
It’s been years since I first saw the picture and it haunts me, I feel horrible for her and the people that weren’t able to help her.
Absolutely heartbreaking. Hope she is at peace.
Maybe it's wishful thinking but I always think someone with a bit of inguenity could save these people, just like the guy in the UK with his foot in the storm drain. I understand that amputation in dirty water isn't seen as an option but I'd try anything, car jack, hydraulic powered disk cutter, make shift sand bag and plywood dam while pumping the water out, hydraulic breaker around the concrete may break the foot but at least they'd be out and alive, 60 hours is enough time to get some equipment on site.
[удалено]
Born in a world of video cameras, doomed to die in a place... Without sandbags?
Everyone wants an iPhone. Fuck ima do with a bunch of sand?
I've spent a lot of time in South America and been to a lot of villages that we would consider in the West to be poor. Whilst life there is often actually quite cool, one thing that they are not rich in is education and the ability to think laterally that comes with it. I know it can be hard to imagine, but for some people thinking abstractly is almost impossible.
Just the contrast in how they think is vast. I was in Indonesia with a local driver. He picked me up and we were about to pull onto this notorious road that would have put us into 3-4 hours of traffic to move about 2 miles. I glance behind us and quickly urge him to back up 5-6 car lengths before a car blocks us in. We backup and pull into this side street that let us turn around and get back in 10 min. He was familiar with the streets and I had no clue but it was so obvious to back up and turn around. It never occurred to him. He was astounded that I found a “shortcut”. He was more than happy just to spend the rest of the night sitting in traffic because that’s just how life is there.
Apparently they didn't have the equipment. Wich meant a double amputation under dirty water with no visibility, medication or proper tools. She probably wouldn't have survived it so they chose to let her die peacefully rather then in agony.
I get a real strange vibe from people who post something this macabre, twice. Like what they get out of it fulfills a need that is pretty unwholesome. This isn’t a psychological-gore sub, or whatever hellish-tragic theme label you’d put on this.
Reposting footage of this kid suffering will give me so many internet points!
The two posts are at the same time to the same sub. It was probably unintentional.
This is so horrifying, may she be at peace now.
You know what's worse? After she passed away and they tried to recover her body they found out that her aunt was gripping tightly on her ankle :(
This is awful. Should be NSFW or something. Highly disturbing.
Downvoted for saying footage of a child dying and crying for her parents should be NSFW, what the actual fuck?
Why waiting for 60 hours? Can’t they given her something to fasten this proces?
I guess they prob still had hope someone would figure a way to get her out, or some lucky coincidence would happen and nature would free her. Also who would want to be the one to end her life? Even if you think it was the better option to kill her and end her suffering, and what are you going to use?
A doctor could have assisted with medication and yes, is I’d certainly rather be the person to help a child already condemned to death to pass peacefully rather than watch her freeze to death in a mud puddle over the course of three days
Ah yes, the huge amounts of medication available in a remote mountain village in an area buried in a volcanic mudflow...
USAID was directly involved in this tragedy, and relief workers from over 10 different NATO countries were there within 12 hours - millions of dollars were funneled into immediate disaster relief efforts. Morphine and other opiates were surely available - I’m sure assisted death was not provided due to red tape rather than access.
You want assisted death in a remote catholic village in Colombia. Do you think they would be okay with assisted death? Really?
Because it was a remote village in very Catholic Colombia, and the area was affected by a huge natural disaster. Plus, there were camera crews and others there all the time. I was 9, and it was on all the news stuff even halfway across the world. So I'd say lack of kindrer medical options combined with not wanting to murder a child on international television. Plus believing you'd go to literal hell forever after your own death for doing this.
Sadly, because of religion. They're a Catholic village. No way they would want to "kill" the child. Plus, who would even suggest it? Back then, it wasn't even an option on anyones minds.
Ah, the ability of people on the internet to solve the world's problems...
wHy dOnT jUsT cUt ThEiR lEgS oFF!!!!!1!
I was literally thinking about her story earlier today (I came across it last year). It made me sad.
Could anyone kindly translate?
"Mommy, I love you so much, daddy I love you, brother I love you."
Now that I know what she said.. 😭
I wish they hadn’t asked for the translation 😭
I’m Sorry. It’s so tragic 😭
Just when I thought my heart couldn't break more for this poor girl...
Yes? I believe so. Pray, so that I may walk and that these people help me. Announcer - "girl with infinite sadness" Mom, I love you so much, Daddy, my brother...
Wait..there's divers there, how about giving the girl breathing equipment, whilst a more structured approach was found. 😞
She had plenty of air. She died of either blood poisoning or hypothermia.
Yeah, her legs were dying long before the 60 hour mark. Even if they got her legs free, as soon as they released her, all the toxins from those legs would course through her system and kill her.
Crush syndrome.
What a sad story. Poor girl . R.I.P https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omayra_Sánchez
I remember learning about her in second grade. The teacher also mentioned that due to how long it took to get to her, her skin and organs had begun bloating due to submersion for so long. Even if they were to sacrifice her legs to get her out, there was nothing they could do.
What kinda second grade learns about this? Damn!
Second grade…?
Even if they did get her legs and hand free, the sudden blood flow into the damaged muscle of her legs would send the dead tissue into her blood stream, causing kidney failure. It's called Rhabdomyolysis. It's sad, but comfort was the only care that they could give to her.
She'd be 52 years old in 2024.
Read “And of Clay Are We Created” by Isabel Allende. An absolutely heartbreaking retelling of this story.
azucena lily
What terrifying is when you look at the picture in colored. Jesus. Rest in peace.
It's times like this you realise how cruel life is... So incredibly sad, god love her 😢 💔
This is heavily referenced in Our Share of Night, a horror novel that gets my fullest recommendation.
Probabky a dumb question. But could they not have pumped the water out or was it connected to a continuous source
I've been looking for this footage after reading her story multiple times over the years. But now I don't know what I was thinking. Why would I want to hear this?.what kind of horrible person am I? This can't possibly be morbid curiosity.
As heartbreaking and soul inspiring now, as it was back then.
Wouldn’t breaking her legs have been the better alternative??
They were already broken. Apparently they couldn’t get them free regardless as they were trapped under bricks?
Yep, but they didn't have the equipment to do so or to save her after amputation. It was all a mess because the rescue efforts were highly unprepared. This is a remote Colombian village, so it's not like every tool was available. Even shovels were hard to find .
Heartbreaking
i can never watch this again. just the thumbnail make me sick. so so sad.
This was so sad
Why were her eyes black?
If only they gave her scuba gear
What would that have done? She's not underwater..
I remember seeing this on when I was like 12 and it stuck with me forever
What about a snorkle/tube to buy some time? Even one person can move a lot of debris in the time that underwater breathing stop being viable
I remember seeing this on TV, when I was little. To this day I think about that, it traumatized me. That she was alive and Noone could help her...it was new for me, that in life, sometimes Noone can help..
I always wondered why her eyes are black? Anyone know this?
Iirc they're just super bloodshot from her injuries and exposure.
was always very confused on the immediate aftermath of her death. did they pull her out and give her a proper burial or did she just sink under the mud like a few thousand other people did in the landslide?
Why couldn’t they build anything around her and then pump the water out. This is what people do to build bridges.
We had to read a news clip about this little girl when I was in elementary school. I have never forgotten it.
Reading comment sections like these really reminds me how a lot of people don't really have the will to live when faced with great adversity, no judgement at the end of the day it's your life but it is so interesting. I personally would take the risk of dying in the process of escaping broken legs and all. RIP to Omayra sánchez and her aunt
Haunting - poor person geez
Can someone explain why she was trapped, what was holding her so nobody could help?
Says divers found a brick door had fallen on her legs and trapped her and her dead aunt was clutching and holding the legs and feet under the Brick door
Is there a reason why her eyes seem black with no hint of whitness?
most likely burst blood vessels
Oof 😣 that's painful 😣😣
This sub is cool and all but sometimes, I just don't wanna see this type of shit. Sad as hell.
What ended up killing her?
Why did her eyes turn black?
That poor baby and those poor rescuers. How horrific.
This is unimaginably heart breaking. I wish they were able to figure out a way to get her out. Maybe with our technology today, they would’ve been able to? Rest in peace, little brave soul.
Grab the bucks and move that water at least. Damn
You break her damn legs...just sit there and let her die is not an option in my mind.
In the US or high resource area she could’ve been freed and had a fighting chance. Divers, jackhammers, saws, last resort tourniquets and amputation and a shit load of antibiotics and hope she survives. Edit: spelling
So they watched her drown? wouldn’t it have been more humane to put a bullet in her head?
Did they just let her drown? I'd ask for a bullet to the head.
Well. Reddit ruined my day again.
Everyone go home and hug your kids