NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / World

Anger and despair as search for survivors in Guatemala ends

By Sonia Perez, Mark Stevenson
Other·
8 Jun, 2018 05:00 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Bryan Rivera is overcome with grief as he returns to where his family home once stood in San Miguel Los Lotes. His family are still missing. Photo / AP
Bryan Rivera is overcome with grief as he returns to where his family home once stood in San Miguel Los Lotes. His family are still missing. Photo / AP

Bryan Rivera is overcome with grief as he returns to where his family home once stood in San Miguel Los Lotes. His family are still missing. Photo / AP

Rescuers suspended search and recovery efforts yesterday at villages devastated by the eruption of Guatemala's Volcan de Fuego, leaving people with missing loved ones distraught and prompting some to do the risky work themselves with rudimentary tools.

Conred, the national disaster agency, said climatic conditions and still-hot volcanic material were making it dangerous for rescuers, and it was also taking into account the fact that more than 72 hours had passed since Monday's eruption.

That's the window beyond which officials earlier said it would be extremely unlikely to find any survivors amid the ash, mud and other debris that buried homes up to their rooftops.

"It rained very hard yesterday. ... The soil is unstable," said Pablo Castillo, a spokesman for national police.

Guatemalan prosecutors ordered an investigation into whether emergency protocols were followed properly, as many residents were caught with little or no time to evacuate.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Troublesome downpours and more volcanic activity had been hindering searches, but when teams have been able to work in the hardest hit areas, the death toll has continued to tick upward.

The official number of confirmed dead was raised by 10 to 109 yesterday, with about 200 more believed to be missing.

Oscar Chavez trekked over a mountain with his father and younger brother to search for his brother Edgar, sister-in-law Sandra and 4-year-old nephew Josue in the hamlet of San Miguel Los Lotes, which was almost entirely wiped out by the volcanic flows. They have not been heard from since the eruption.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"We looked for them in shelters, hospitals, everywhere, but we did not find them," said Chavez, 34, wiping a tear from his eye as the others used sticks and bits of broken boards to dig at the collapsed, ash-filled home. "So, better for us to come here."

A group of police officers saw what the family were doing and gave them shovels and helped with the digging.

Bryan Rivera is overcome with grief as he returns to where his family home once stood in San Miguel Los Lotes. His family are still missing. Photo / AP
Bryan Rivera is overcome with grief as he returns to where his family home once stood in San Miguel Los Lotes. His family are still missing. Photo / AP

A dozen other families also arrived to search the homes.

Before yesterday they had been unable to access the area while rescuers were working.

Discover more

New Zealand

Our next big eruption: can we predict it?

04 Jun 11:28 PM
New Zealand

Rising lake temps signal 'minor unrest' at Ruapehu

05 Jun 10:06 PM

Chavez's younger brother was angry that there were no longer any disaster workers at the scene while a little way downhill heavy machinery was being used to clear a road blocked by ash. And he directed his anger at President Jimmy Morales.

"They are cleaning the highway - the President has commitments to businesspeople. But here, since the people have nothing to offer him, he leaves this part as a burial ground," said William Chavez, a 29-year-old accounting student.

At a shelter set up in a school in the nearby city of Escuintla, workers fastened colourful ID bracelets on the wrists of people who were among several thousand displaced by the eruption.

Nohemi Ascon, 41, is the aunt of six children between the ages of 1 and 8 who died in Los Lotes. A photograph taken shortly after the disaster showed their bodies huddled together on a bed in the corner of a room, covered in white ash and blood.

Ascon said other family members were still unaccounted for.

"My father, my mother, my sisters are there," she said, upset over rescuers' decision to suspend their search. "It is their job. It is not right that they leave them there. They should get them out so we can take them to the cemetery."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The United States announced it was sending emergency aid, including financial resources, to help meet food, water and sanitation needs.

Washington also dispatched aircraft to help transport burn victims to Florida and Texas. On Thursday a US Air Force C-17 carried six badly burned Guatemalan children for treatment at the Shriner's Hospital in Galveston, Texas.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders offered "deepest condolences" to victims and said the aid was being provided at the request of the Government of Guatemala.

At a cemetery in Escuintla, relatives of Sandra Orizabal, 37, buried her in a white coffin next to the grave of her husband, who was interred the previous day.

All told, 18 members of the family died or disappeared in the disaster. Orizabal was just the fifth to be found and laid to rest.

"I am burying my daughter with great pain," said Pedro Orizabal, her father. "May God bless all the family that is still standing."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Sandra Orizabal was buried hurriedly and without the usual wake on the order of health authorities.

Workers have already dug a row of additional graves at the lush green cemetery, ready and waiting for whoever comes next.

- AP

Save

    Share this article

Latest from World

World

Crush at Gaza aid site leaves at least 20 dead amid ongoing turmoil

World

Study finds people cautious of speaking their minds

Premium
World

Eight decades later, a Holocaust survivor reunites with his liberator


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Recommended for you

Markets with Madison host on her ‘terrifying’ media move and shunning NZ tall poppy syndrome
Media Insider

Markets with Madison host on her ‘terrifying’ media move and shunning NZ tall poppy syndrome

Herald Hat-trick sports quiz: July 17
Sport

Herald Hat-trick sports quiz: July 17

Study finds people cautious of speaking their minds
World

Study finds people cautious of speaking their minds

'I feel aggrieved': 92-year-old online shopper's warning after supermarket meat purchase
Hawkes Bay Today

'I feel aggrieved': 92-year-old online shopper's warning after supermarket meat purchase

Quran, Torah and Bible among books bound for National Library shredder
Politics

Quran, Torah and Bible among books bound for National Library shredder

Rural community 'in shock' as industrial park greenlit
Bay of Plenty Times

Rural community 'in shock' as industrial park greenlit



Latest from World

Crush at Gaza aid site leaves at least 20 dead amid ongoing turmoil
World

Crush at Gaza aid site leaves at least 20 dead amid ongoing turmoil

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation blamed the chaos on 'agitators' in the crowd.

16 Jul 06:33 PM
Study finds people cautious of speaking their minds
World

Study finds people cautious of speaking their minds

16 Jul 06:00 PM
Premium
Premium
Eight decades later, a Holocaust survivor reunites with his liberator
World

Eight decades later, a Holocaust survivor reunites with his liberator

16 Jul 06:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search