Rescuers find mother of previously rescued baby dead in Colombia

Rescuers found Valentina Vanegas Galiano, mother of a rescued two-month-old baby, dead in Cali on Saturday, while Daniela Largo Sánchez died after surviving 36 hours under rubble in Pereira, Clarín reported.

Colombia’s National Unit for Disaster Risk Management raised the official toll from the magnitude 7.4 earthquake in western Colombia to 294 dead and 3,935 injured. The agency said 320 people remained missing.

Vanegas Galiano, 39, was found with the body of her brother-in-law, Juan Esteban Gómez, in the rubble of La Torre del Limonar in southern Cali. Her son, Salomón, had been rescued on Aug. 12 with his father, Juan David Gómez, after spending two days trapped in the ruins.

Rescuers located the father and baby after hearing a voice from the debris warn that there was a baby inside. Brian Osorio Zuluaga, who had gone to check on his grandmother after the quake and then moved toward the collapsed Limonar building to help, heard Juan David whisper: “Yes, I’m here. I’m with a baby.”

Salomón suffered scratches and a mild blow to the head that caused a hematoma. Juan David underwent surgery for his injuries and was in stable condition. The rescue had raised the family’s hopes that Vanegas Galiano and Juan Esteban Gómez would also be found alive in the five-story structure.

Daniela Largo Sánchez, a 32-year-old lawyer, died Saturday after several medical complications. Emergency teams had worked 10 hours to rescue her from a collapsed building in Pereira, and resuscitation efforts lasted 17 minutes. Her body was to be taken to the neighboring department of Caldas for burial.