Juan Felipe Giraldo, 24, was recovered from a collapsed Pereira hotel two days before his planned wedding in Bogotá.
PEREIRA, Colombia — A 24-year-old man who was preparing to get married was found dead Friday in the rubble of a hotel that collapsed during the powerful earthquake that struck western Colombia, ending a dayslong search by rescuers and relatives hoping to find him alive.
Juan Felipe Giraldo had traveled to Pereira for work when the magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck at 7:34 a.m. Monday, Aug. 10. He was staying at the Hotel Dibeni when the building collapsed. Giraldo was scheduled to marry his fiancée, Natalia Patiño, in Bogotá on Sunday, Aug. 16. The couple had a 2-year-old son.
Rescue crews recovered Giraldo’s body from the hotel rubble on Friday, Aug. 14, according to his family and Colombian news reports. His death came as emergency workers continued searching damaged buildings across western Colombia after one of the country’s most destructive earthquakes in years. Officials reported Friday that at least 287 people had died, nearly 4,000 had been injured and nearly 400 remained missing.
Giraldo worked selling eyewear and had gone to Pereira on a business trip. His father, Hernán Giraldo, traveled from Bogotá after the earthquake and remained near the collapsed hotel while crews searched through the debris. Before the quake, Juan Felipe Giraldo had sent a video from the hotel that helped his family determine where he had been staying.
For several days, his relatives held out hope that he might have survived in a pocket beneath the wreckage. Rescue workers searching the hotel used specialized equipment while crews from Colombia and other countries worked through unstable concrete and debris. Reuters reported Friday that the hotel was among the locations where teams believed survivors might still be trapped.
Hernán Giraldo said before his son’s body was recovered that he was waiting to embrace him alive. The father had remained at the site since Monday night as the search continued, hoping his son would still be able to attend the wedding that had been planned for the weekend.
After authorities confirmed Giraldo’s death, Patiño posted a tribute to her fiancé on Instagram. “Forever and always in my heart,” she wrote, according to Noticias Caracol. “You were the most complete love I ever had. I love you forever.” The message accompanied a photograph of the couple with their young son.
The earthquake was centered near San José del Palmar in the Chocó department, according to the Colombian Geological Service. The agency measured the quake at magnitude 7.4 and a depth of 103 kilometers, or about 64 miles. It said the earthquake was the largest recorded in Colombia during the 21st century. The shaking was reported across much of the country and was also felt in Panama and Venezuela.
Damage was especially severe in cities including Pereira and Cali, where buildings collapsed and rescue teams spent days searching for survivors. The disaster damaged homes, schools, hospitals and other structures across western Colombia. Tens of thousands of homes were damaged, according to government figures cited by Reuters, and aftershocks continued to complicate rescue operations.
Search and recovery work remained underway Saturday as authorities assessed damaged buildings and tried to account for people still missing. Giraldo’s recovery marked a devastating conclusion for a family that had spent four days waiting at the collapsed hotel, only two days before the wedding he and Patiño had planned.