World4 min(s) read
Published 10:58 06 Jul 2025 GMT
A photographer who captured a famous portrait of a young girl before her tragic death has opened up about the experience.
In 1985, the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in Colombia claimed the lives of over 20,000 people, with one haunting image from the tragedy seared into global memory.
Frank Fournier, a French photographer, became renowned for capturing the heartbreaking final moments of 13-year-old Omayra Sánchez Garzón, who was trapped in debris for 60 hours before her death.
The catastrophic eruption triggered a deadly lahar - a lethal mix of volcanic lava, ice, and mud - that surged into the river valleys, engulfing villages like Armero, per the Sun.
Among the victims was Omayra, who became a symbol of the disaster’s devastation.
Rescue workers tried repeatedly to free Omayra, but her legs were pinned beneath a brick door, with the body of her deceased aunt entangled around her legs.
Each attempt to pull her free caused more water to rise around her, risking drowning.
To keep her afloat, rescuers placed a tire around her body and provided her with sweet food and soda in her final hours.
Before succumbing to her injuries on November 16, Omayra gave a tearful message on camera: "Mommy, I love you so much, Daddy I love you, brother I love you." It is believed her death was caused by either gangrene or hypothermia.
Fournier’s photograph of Omayra, her eyes bloodshot, hands whitened, and face swollen, became a haunting symbol of the disaster.
The powerful image sparked global outcry and raised difficult ethical questions about the role of journalists during tragedies.
In a heartbreaking recollection, Fournier shared that Omayra began to hallucinate during her final hours, asking him to take her to school because she feared she would be late.
The photographer opened up about the heartwrenching picture in a 2005 interview with the BBC, revealing that people asked him why he didn't help the teen or get her out.
At the time, the now-77-year-old responded that it was "impossible" to rescue her, explaining: "There was an outcry - debates on television on the nature of the photojournalist, how much he or she is a vulture.
"But I felt the story was important for me to report and I was happier that there was some reaction; it would have been worse if people had not cared about it," he continued. "I am very clear about what I do and how I do it, and I try to do my job with as much honesty and integrity as possible."
Fournier believes the picture helped raise money "from around the world in aid" as well as "helped highlight the irresponsibility and lack of courage of the country's leaders".
"There was an obvious lack of leadership. There were no evacuation plans, yet scientists had foreseen the catastrophic extent of the volcano's eruption," he explained. "People still find the picture disturbing."
He said the picture highlights "the lasting power of this little girl," adding: "I was lucky that I could act as a bridge to link people with her. It's the magic of the thing."
This tragic moment inspired the title of a lecture Fournier delivered in 2022 at the Xposure International Photography Festival: "Please Take Me to School". During the lecture, Fournier revisited the Nevado del Ruiz eruption and its aftermath, before turning his focus to Omayra, the courageous girl whose image became a symbol of both suffering and resilience.
"For three nights and three days - stuck in a pool of sewage water at the bottom of a small hill, crushed under layers upon layers of fallen wall - a voice was to speak in the name of 28 thousand," Fournier told the audience.
"It was a voice of an ordinary little girl who will cross land and time, and will bounce and pierce the heart of millions of people."
He continued, describing Omayra's "commanding dignity, stunning courage, and relentless kindness" as she faced what he called "a slow, violent, implacable death."
"As the sewage water kept rising slowly to reach the level of her lips, 12-year-old Omayra Sánchez faced a slow, violent, implacable death," Fournier said, reflecting on the tragedy.
"The cruel fate of this lost life - here, but also in the other story imposed to all of us to preserve and share is the singularity of human life at all costs," he said.
Fournier continued: "No matter the specific mode of existence, the social and cultural condition, we need to challenge the vicious politics of life inequality imposed on others by our leaders and by ourselves.
"It is not only a practical, but ethical, political, imperative, as each individual has a right to life for the gain of everyone."
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