Rescuers Pull Baby Alive from Rubble After Colombia's Deadliest Quake in a Decade

Volunteer Brian Osorio Zuluaga rode his motorbike home from work in Cali when he saw a five-story residential block collapse after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake, the strongest to hit Colombia in more than ten years. He and other bystanders began shouting for survivors despite warnings of a possible gas leak. A faint voice from the debris indicated a man and a baby were trapped. Together they lifted a heavy concrete slab, exposing the infant whose color returned as rescuers cleared the rubble. Osorio handed the baby, a boy, to a police officer who took him to an ambulance, while volunteers continued to free the injured man.

Search and rescue teams entered their third day on Wednesday, seeking additional survivors in the coffee-growing region where the quake killed more than 200 people, according to official counts. International assistance arrived, with the European Union deploying satellite data and funding for the response, said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. In Cali, fire crews rescued a woman from a pile of debris, and in Pereira volunteers formed human chains to clear rubble from an apartment building.

In the epicenter, the Chocó department’s indigenous Wounaan community reported that aid had not yet reached the area. Leader Victor Chamapuro said residents were forced to sleep outdoors and called for food and medical supplies. The disaster presents an early test for Colombia’s newly inaugurated president, Abelardo de la Espriella.