The photographer who took the heartbreaking picture of a young girl trapped in a volcanic mudflow for 60 hours explains why he didn't help her.

Frank Fournier became renowned for his coverage of the 1985 eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in Armero, Colombia.

The South American nation suffered a devastating eruption that claimed the lives of 20,000 residents after a deadly mixture of volcanic lava and ice - called lahar - rushed into the river valleys and entered the villages.

One of those victims was 13-year-old Omayra Sánchez Garzón, who tragically passed after being trapped in debris caused by a mudslide for 60 hours.

Several rescue efforts were made to save Omayra's life, however, her legs were caught under a brick door, with her deceased aunt's arms clutched tightly around her legs and feet, according to The Sun.

Each time someone tried to pull her free, more water pooled around her, which made it seem as if she would drown if they let her go. So, rescue workers placed a tire around her to keep her afloat, and gave her sweet food and soda cans during her last few hours.

Before closing her eyes for the final time, the teen shared a heartbreaking message on camera, saying: "Mommy, I love you so much, Daddy I love you, brother I love you."

Omayra passed away on November 16, with her cause of death believed to be either gangrene or hypothermia.

Her horrific fate was known around the world because of a haunting portrait captured by French photographer Frank Fournier.

Check out the photo taken by Fournier below:

The photo showed that her eyes were so bloodshot that they looked black, her hands had whitened and her face had swelled.

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-76-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."

Featured image credit: Kriswanto Ginting / Getty

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.

Omayra was trapped for 60 hours until she passed away. Credit: Jacques Langevin/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images

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, 1985, 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."

Rescuers were tragically unable to save her. Credit: Jacques Langevin/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images

"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."

Featured image credit: Jacques Langevin/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images

A broadcast in Brazil took a horrifying twist when a journalist reporting on a missing teenager appeared to step on her body while demonstrating conditions in the river where she was last seen.

The reporter entered the Mearim River in Bacabal, in the northeastern part of the country, to show how deep the water was and where the girl had reportedly been swimming, The Sun reports. At the time he seemed unaware that the girl’s body was lying on the riverbed below him.

The unsettling moment was captured on video as the reporter suddenly reacted in shock when the water rose to chest level. He backed out of the deeper area, visibly shaken. Soon after, rescuers resumed their search in the same spot where the journalist had been standing and recovered the girl’s body.

Officials later confirmed that the 13-year-old had died by drowning while cooling off with friends and that there were no signs of external injuries according to a post mortem examination. The discovery ended a tense search operation that had drawn local attention and concern.

Rescue efforts and discovery unfolded

Firefighters and divers had been searching the river for the missing girl when the reporter waded in to show conditions. After his broadcast, the specialised teams focused again on that section of the river and located her remains on June 30. It remains uncertain whether the reporter had felt her body beneath the surface during his report.

Reaction from community and school

Following the finding of her body, the school declared a period of mourning for the student.

Friends and family of the girl gathered for a vigil by the river, holding a community event where they lit candles and paid their respects to the young life lost.

The tragedy has had a powerful impact on the local area, prompting reflection on safety around the river’s strong currents and uneven depths.

Featured image credit: D-Keine / Getty

Rescue teams in Indonesia are racing against time to reach Juliana Marins, a Brazilian tourist who has been trapped in Mount Rinjani, an active volcano, for over three days.

Marins, a publicist and dancer from Rio de Janeiro, fell an estimated 984 feet down the volcano's treacherous terrain early on the morning of June 21, while hiking with a tour group near the crater rim, BBC News reported.

The accident occurred around 6:30AM local time in low visibility and cold conditions.

According to the Daily Mail, East Lombok Police spokesperson AKP Nikolas Osman, the group’s guide, had advised the 26-year-old to rest due to fatigue and continued with the other hikers. When the guide returned, she was gone.

Tourists later heard her screams echoing from below and contacted authorities. Initial drone footage confirmed she was alive, showing her sitting on a slope of grey soil far below the hiking trail, seemingly in shock.

Officials from Mount Rinjani National Park reported hearing her calls for help on Saturday, but when rescuers descended approximately 300 meters in her direction, she did not respond, and by Sunday (June 22) morning, she had vanished from the last known location.

On Monday (June 23), search teams located Marins again, this time even farther down the volcano's slope.

However, rescuers were forced to stop operations due to the weather and fog. They had "advanced just 250m down, they had 350m left to reach Juliana, but they retreated,” her family revealed on social media, per BBC.

Drone surveillance and rescue teams rappelling toward Segara Anak, the volcano’s crater lake, have continued efforts despite challenging terrain, cold temperatures, and dense fog that have hampered the use of thermal detection.

Adding to the urgency, Marins has been without water, food, or warm clothing since the fall. Her sister, Mariana, has called out false reports circulating online, including a video falsely claiming Marins had been rescued. “We even celebrated,” she said. “It was a shock to find out that it was a lie.”

“The information we have is that so far they have not been able to reach her, because the rescue ropes were not long enough, in addition to the low visibility,” Mariana said. “All the videos that were made are lies.”

Marins' family also criticized park authorities for keeping the trail open while their loved one needs help, adding: "We don't know the state of her health!”

Two members of the Brazilian woman's hiking group told the network Globo that the trek had been extremely difficult.

“It was so cold, it was really, really tough,” one said, while another described the conditions during the accident: “It was really early, before sunrise, in bad visibility conditions with just a simple lantern to light up the terrain which was difficult and slippery.”

Marins, who had been traveling solo through Asia since February, had previously visited Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines, documenting her adventures on social media. Her trip to Indonesia was meant to be another chapter in her exploration of the continent.

Brazil’s foreign ministry confirmed that the Brazilian embassy in Jakarta has sent representatives to monitor the rescue mission.

“The ambassador has personally contacted the International Director of the Search and Rescue Agency and the Director of the Indonesian National Disaster Agency,” the ministry stated, adding that they have received reports from local authorities on the operation’s progress.

Mount Rinjani, rising more than 3,700 meters above sea level, is Indonesia’s second-highest volcano. It is known for its breathtaking crater lake and panoramic views.

The volcano attracts thousands of hikers every year, but the climb can be perilous. In 2022, a Portuguese man died after falling from a cliff near the summit, and a Malaysian hiker lost his life in May of this year after a similar accident.

Featured image credit: Ulet Ifansasti / Getty