Antioquia relief agencies rescued several students who were trapped in the mass movement that fell on the school in the village of El Porvenir de Andes. However, at least three died.
One of the victims was identified as Alexander Hernández, while the others are two girls who were enrolled in primary school. On the other hand, the other person who survived the landslide is recovering at the municipal medical center.
In images recorded by the witnesses, the work carried out by the firefighters in the company of the Public Force can be seen, while the parents followed them with their eyes from another point of the school in the hope of finding a miracle.
So far this year, 49 people have died in natural events in Antioquia: 14 due to torrential flood, 20 due to mass movement, 1 due to flooding, 1 due to electrical storm, 7 due to sudden flooding and 6 due to gale. In addition, 177,859 people have been affected and more than 3,000 homes impacted.
Technical teams from the Disaster Risk Management Administrative Department traveled to the school to assess the conditions that caused the landslide. According to the community, the mountain showed no reason to be on alert.
However, the heavy rainfall that has fallen on the municipalities of southwestern Antioquia could cause the land to become saturated with water and quietly destabilize.
The emergency began after nine in the morning on Thursday, July 14, when teacher Eliana Rincón gave the order to the 22 preschool, first, second, third, fourth and fifth grade students to go out for recess. They were all grouped together in the same space when the mass movement took place.
A loud crash echoed in the classroom. The largest ran towards a coffee plantation next to the school, while the others remained underground. Tears began to fall when they did not see their friends, as the children commented when their parents arrived.
The teacher detailed the moments of anguish: “We were in recess when suddenly we heard something very loud and we all turned around and, in a matter of seconds, we ran. We had no time for absolutely nothing. We ran and we didn’t know where.”
In the midst of the chaos, the youngest students – preschool and first grade – were trapped. After the rescue efforts, the aid agencies managed to get Alexánder Marín, María Sofía Monrroy and another minor out alive; however, the boy died along with two other girls whose identity has not been revealed.
Leidy Tatiana Úsuga, one of the school’s guardians, was informed of the incident when she was at home. The reaction of despair that accompanied her at that moment cannot be defined with words, but with a cry that she has maintained since she saw her children alive a foot away from the collapse. The soul returned to the body.
“I have two children studying here. But, thank God, they were able to run and are safe. My child tells me that he ran to one side of the school and that the children who ran to the road covered them [el deslizamiento]”, detailed the mother.
While she was talking, she was interrupted by the firefighters who are in the area, asking her to evacuate the site so that the yellow machinery could drag the earth in order to speed up the rescue work that is being carried out at that time, now they are in the evaluation stage.