Mother dies shielding children from collapsing wall during Colombia earthquake

In Cali, Colombia, Yenci Lorena Restrepo, a woman in her early thirties, died tragically while protecting her two young children during the magnitude 7.4 earthquake that struck the region on Monday. The incident occurred as the earthquake's tremors caused a wall to collapse inside her home in the Alto Meléndez neighborhood.

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Neighbors tell me she had the children hugged and a wall collapsed on her; she threw the children forward and took the full impact.

Witnesses and her husband, Sebastián Íguira, recounted that as the house began to shake violently, Yenci immediately grabbed her four- and six-year-old children. In a desperate act of self-sacrifice, she managed to throw them forward, away from the falling debris, before the wall collapsed upon her. This heroic action saved the children's lives, though they sustained injuries.

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The child is already much better, and the girl is still in the hospital, but the doctors tell us she is also progressing satisfactorily. They are all I have left, I love them very much.

The younger child, a four-year-old girl, suffered a minor head fracture and remains hospitalized, while her six-year-old brother was discharged the following day. Sebastián Íguira, who was near the home when the earthquake hit and rushed back upon hearing the news, described the scene as shocking. He expressed his deep love for his children, who are now all he has left.

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The earthquake caught me while I was running an errand, I was nearby. When it started to shake, I panicked, I tried to call her, she didn't answer. I sent messages, she didn't answer. From my location to my house is five minutes. It was the longest journey of my life. When I arrived home, I saw the situation, I was in shock. I loved her very much.

Family and friends gathered at a relative's home for Yenci's wake, wearing white t-shirts bearing her photograph and the message "We love you." A funeral procession accompanied her coffin to a cemetery in southern Cali, with car horns sounding as a tribute to the woman hailed as a hero by her community for her ultimate act of maternal love and protection. Her husband remembered her as a "warrior" and cherished the memories they shared.

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You are a warrior, my love, thank you for what you gave me, I'll keep the best of you; it will be very hard for me...