Colombia's 'lost children' remain open wound 40 years after deadly volcanic eruption

By Nelson Bocanegra

BOGOTA (Reuters) -Maria Gladys Primo cannot hold back tears as she recalls the night of November 13, 1985, when she last saw her two young children, before a landslide of mud, rocks and trees triggered by the eruption of Colombia’s Nevado del Ruiz volcano swept away her home.

Primo spent two days trapped in debris before a helicopter rescued her. Her husband was buried and never recovered.

She never believed her children died – and time may have proven her right.

The massive landslide that shattered Primo’s life also wiped out the town of Armero, killing about 25,000 people – nearly 70% of its population – in what is considered Latin America’s deadliest twentieth-century natural disaster.

Primo, who spent 18 months in a Bogota hospital recovering from severe injuri