COLOMBIA – A mother’s love is something that can never be underestimated. Mothers always tell their children that they would do anything for them, and, thankfully, most of us never realize how far they will go.
Sadly, in Colombia, a mother sacrificed her life in order to save her baby’s as the plane the family was traveling in crashed.
A well-known doctor from Bogota, Colombia, Fabio Grandas, was flying a HK2335-G aircraft on October 13th with his wife, Mayerly Diaz Rojas, their baby, and the family’s nanny, Nuris Maza. The group had decided to fly from Santa Marta to the Guaymaral airport.
Initial reports seem to indicate that Grandas, known as an experienced pilot, had no difficulties during the flight until they neared the city of Ubate. Grandas declared an emergency as the plane started to lose altitude and ultimately crashed in the Novilleros area.
Rojas must have known that the plane was crashing and took her baby, Martin, and used her body to take the impact and shield as much of it as her body could take from the baby. Miraculously, the move worked, and Martin survived when no one else in the plane did.
Witnesses to the crash called emergency authorities to report the incident and have rescue personnel respond just after 5pm. Upon their arrival, they were able to get to the wreckage and began looking for survivors.
Rescue members located the bodies of Grandas, Maza, and Rojas. Rescue personnel found the infant, Martin, alive and still clutched in his mother’s arms. It appears as if Rojas knew the plane was going down and used her body to shield Martin from most of the impact of the crash, thus, saving his life.
Medics stated that Martin did not seem to sustain any serious injuries and was transported to the Fundacion Santa Fe de Bogota Hospital for treatment. He was later transferred to the Marly Clinic in Chia according to El Tiempo and was last listed in stable condition.
The victims’ names were released shortly after the identities were confirmed and the news of the death was taken hard by the medical community. Grandas’ death was viewed as a “huge loss for medicine in Colombia.”
Grandas was a member of the Air Patrol which travels to remote areas of the country to render medical aid. The Air Patrol paid tribute to all of the victims of the crash.
Colombia’s Civil Aviation Authority will be investigating the cause of the crash which will likely take significant time to be completed. In the meantime, they issued a statement that read that they wanted to express “solidarity with the families of the victims.”
They stated:
“According to initial information, the plane had all of its technical documentation up to date.”
Sadly, this is not the first plane crash this year in Colombia or in recent years. The Colombian Bureau of Aircraft Accidents reported several plane crashes in recent years, including two others in 2020, one of them claimed four lives.
Prior to these events, the Country also suffered significant loss when a plane carrying Brazil’s Chapecoense Real soccer team to a game in Medellin struck treetops while descending. This caused the plane to crash, killing 71 people on board and leaving six survivors.
In that incident, the charter plane was carrying 68 passengers and nine crew members when it took off from the Viru Viru airport in Santa Cruz. The plane struck the treetops as it made its approach to the Jose Maria Cordova International Airport in Rionegro.
The team was headed to the area to play against the Atletico Nacional of Medellin in the first part of the Sudamericana final. The team had reached its final of a major South American club competition.