Enrique Marín drove more than 10 hours from Bogota after a friend called to tell him his mother was buried under rubble at her home in Pereira. By the time he arrived, she was already dead.

"They said, 'Enrique, here we didn't have a tremor, we had an earthquake, and your mother is trapped under the rubble and we are searching for her,'" Marin told Reuters, standing in front of the ruins of his mother's house on Wednesday (August 12).

"My mother was rescued after six hours. She still had vital signs when they brought her out but she died on the way to the hospital," he said.

Rescuers found his mother still in her pyjamas, the keys to her house clutched in her hand, he said.

"I managed to get to her vigil, I accompanied her for the funeral and I said goodbye before she was cremated," Marín added, holding the bicycle he rode as a child — the only thing he managed to salvage from the wreckage.

Marín's mother was among the victims of a magnitude 7.4 earthquake that struck western Colombia on August 10. It collapsed buildings across major cities in western Colombia and was felt as far away as Bogota, Panama and Ecuador.

Colombia's President Abelardo De La Espriella on Wednesday vowed to set up an emergency fund to help rebuild hospitals, schools, homes and infrastructure destroyed by Monday's earthquake, which killed 265 and left nearly 500 people unaccounted for.

Officials estimate the quake, which struck the South American country just after 7 a.m. local time (1200 GMT) on Monday, injured 3,770 people and destroyed more than 9,550 homes.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

PERSONAL - Son returns from Bogota to find his mother already dead from quake injuries after rescue

VIDEO SHOWS: RESCUE SERVICES WORKING THROUGH RUBBLE OF COLLAPSED BUILDING/ BOGOTA RESIDENT SPEAKING ABOUT HIS MOTHER WHO WAS TRAPPED UNDER THE RUBBLE FOR SIX HOURS BUT DIED AFTER BEING RESCUED

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT

SHOWS: PEREIRA, COLOMBIA (AUGUST 12, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. (MUTE) VARIOUS OF DRONE FOOTAGE SHOWING RESCUE WORKERS AND HEAVY MACHINERY DIGGING THROUGH RUBBLE OF COLLAPSED BUILDING

2. ENRIQUE MARIN, WHOSE MOTHER WAS A RESIDENT IN A COLLAPSED BUILDING, DIGGING BICYCLE OUT OF RUBBLE

3. MARIN LOOKING AT BIKE AND CLEANING IT

4. WHEEL BEING WASHED

5. MARIN SPEAKING

6. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) BOGOTA RESIDENT, ENRIQUE MARIN, SAYING:

"I was in the city of Bogota when it happened. She lived there (pointing at his mother's house), alone in a small apartment. I was in Bogota and it was all fine. I got a call to check how things were. And I said 'no, everything is fine here'. And then they said, 'Enrique, here (in Pereira) we didn't have a tremor, we had an earthquake, and your mother is trapped under the rubble and we are searching for her.'"

7. MARIN SHOWING VIDEO ON HIS PHONE OF COLLAPSED BUILDING

8. MARIN MOVING A GAS CONTAINER

9. REMAINS OF COLLAPSED BUILDING

10. MAN PUSHING WALL SECTION AWAY/DIGGER IN THE BACKGROUND

11. (MUTE) DRONE FOOTAGE OF COLLAPSED BUILDING

12. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) BOGOTA RESIDENT, ENRIQUE MARIN, SAYING:

"At the moment of the quake, she was at the door. She was in her pyjamas and she was going to open the door. They said they found her with the keys still in her hands."

13. (MUTE) VARIOUS DRONE FOOTAGE OF WORKERS CLEARING RUBBLE AT SITE OF COLLAPSED BUILDING

14. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) BOGOTA RESIDENT, ENRIQUE MARIN, SAYING:

"My mother was rescued after six hours. She still had vital signs when they brought her out but she died on the way to the hospital. Sadly she died. That's my story. I managed to get to her vigil, I accompanied her for the funeral and I said goodbye before she was cremated."

15. DIGGER PUSHING RUBBLE

16. WORKERS NEAR RUBBLE

17. VARIOUS OF COLLAPSED BUILDING

18. VARIOUS OF DIGGER MOVING RUBBLE

19. (MUTE) VARIOUS DRONE FOOTAGE OF WORKERS CLEARING RUBBLE AT SITE OF COLLAPSED BUILDING