Talk:Omayra Sánchez

Sources/bias
Last two paragraphs seem quite biased, does creator or others have any links to press on the subject? Stifle 01:45, 13 November 2005 (UTC)
 * Sources indeed. Her age seems to be confused - 13 in one paragraph, 12 in the next. -- Anonymous 2:20, Jan 12, 2007 (EST)
 * Seems better now. Stifle (talk) 21:04, 12 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Agreed on the sources issue. Unfortunately, most links on her available online are in Spanish. --Lendorien 14:16, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Inaccurate
Detail about the pump needs to be historically verified; mention of a pump is only referred to in the short story adaptation of this event "And of Clay Are We Created" and not necessarily in real events. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.8.4.236 (talk • contribs).

The statistics given in first paragraph of 25,000 deaths do not match the 20,000 deaths given in the main article about the eruption. 68.156.93.130 (talk) 18:08, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

-- "Omayra got trapped under her own home's concrete and debris and could not free herself. When rescue teams tried to help her, they realized that her legs were trapped, held tight by the arms of her dead mother." vs. "Both her brother, Alvaro Enrique, and mother, Maria Aleida, survived the lahars, but her father also died. Omayra's mother commented, "I will live for my son, who only lost a finger.""

One of these must be wrong, unless I'm simply misreading it. Even stranger, both statements cite the same source. 66.69.227.153 (talk) 11:45, 28 June 2011 (UTC) --
 * I must have misread the source, thanks for catching that.  ceran  thor 15:26, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

-- The size of the flow (2,000,000 cubic miles) looks excessively large, and should be checked. Perhaps it was cubic meters or some other unit. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ronzono (talk • contribs) 21:22, 9 May 2012 (UTC)

Why could she not be saved?
As a former EMT and trained rescuer, this photo really breaks my heart because wooden wedges and simple air bags that fit into a backpack and a SCUBA sized tank could have easily moved tons of concrete apart enough to move her out instead of rope on come-alongs or cranes. Not expensive stuff - not high tech - no problem to carry this equipment in on foot. In Spanish I think I heard her saying no más fotos (no more photos). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.134.154.78 (talk) 16:55, 27 July 2014 (UTC) If this photo could be taken, please explain, why could she not be saved? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.107.133.3 (talk • contribs).
 * I dont get it either. There must have been horribly unlucky circumstances. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.37.43.110 (talk) 23:54, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
 * The article seems to point out that her legs were trapped under the water, and amputation would be the only way to remove her. Also the fact that there was no available surgeon to perform the procedure is what I would call "horribly unlucky circumstances".Quase 21:20, 2 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Her legs were pinned. They wouldn't be able to pull her out without ripping off her legs, and they didn't have the expensive equipment to destroy the wreckage pinning her without seriously injuring her. &mdash; Ceran  ♦ ♦ ( speak) 19:28, 26 November 2008 (UTC)
 * It doesn't change the fact that she was there for *three* days while rescue workers and (apparently) the international media were able to hang out with her. One article I read about this claimed that they "weren't able to get a specialist" ... but amputations are what people did before specialists. Gag, yank, saw, burn, cleanse. Horrific but better than death. So yes, the article could use more sourced detail about why the rescue workers / media were able to get TV cameras to the scene but no doctor.
 * As for the government, article could use some more explanation about exactly what corners they cut, since apparently that backlash was the major effect of the poor girl's martyrdom. -LlywelynII (talk) 10:25, 11 August 2010 (UTC)
 * They try, some photos of the tries are and . And a video  But still it is not known why they fail.91.77.230.243 (talk) 22:02, 22 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Correct. This is an encyclopedia article, so it will not speculate when there simply is not information available.  ceran  thor 22:16, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

If I remember correctly
This year was Univisons 25th anniversery. They have the video. The girl was very relaxed and calm in the water. I do believe they tied whatever was keeping her down to a crane and the rope broke. They interview her grandmother about the whole ordeal for the special. It is a famous video. You got to also remember that everyhing was in ruins and even roads were probably closed off to several of the survivors. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.91.136.187 (talk) 02:47, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

On her name
The article has a couple of spellings of the girl's name, even differing between the title and the first sentence. Can we officially establish Omayra or Omaira? 173.17.242.102 (talk) 05:25, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

File:Omayra Sanchez.jpg Nominated for speedy Deletion

 * LOL it is the picture that makes the article. without the picture the article would be not as effective, and no one would care.  Seems just like wikipedia to go and try to fuck it up.  --1sneakers6 (talk) 09:29, 17 September 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Biographies
Why did the article use her first name rather than her family name? --John (talk) 08:46, 28 August 2013 (UTC)
 * See Brianboulton's suggestions at the peer review. "Perhaps, as this is a child, stick to 'Omayra' rather than the rather formal 'Sanchez'."  ceran  thor 13:28, 1 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Interesting. Brian is usually spot-on but I strongly disagree with this and amended the article accordingly. I have never seen any policy or MoS guidance that recommends writing more informally about a child than about an adult. --John (talk) 13:19, 2 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Okay. Thanks for saving me the work.  ceran  thor 18:52, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

Why did her eyes turn black?
What caused her eyes to hang black? Alexandria. Williams (talk) 14:47, 18 February 2016 (UTC)
 * this is a place for discussion of the contents of the article, not for asking questions about the subject itself. I'll refer you to the reference desk. Dschslava (talk) 16:17, 18 February 2016 (UTC)

Clean up needed
The article is full of contradictions - she could not be freed without breaking her legs/she could not be freed without cutting off her legs; She died of exposure or from gangrene or from hypothermia.Royalcourtier (talk) 10:12, 27 April 2016 (UTC)
 * I don't see how these statements contradict one another. Dschslava (talk) 15:56, 27 April 2016 (UTC)
 * The two sentences do not contradict each other. Both sentences contain contradictory claims made in the article.Royalcourtier (talk) 09:33, 6 May 2016 (UTC)
 * The article is not well written.
 * Looking at every mention of the word "legs" in the article one sees quite a bit of redundancy, and some contradiction between different paragraphs, and a lot of wrong English, and strange, annoying choices of words.
 * It says, "Divers discovered that Sánchez's legs were caught under a door made of bricks, with her dead aunt's arms clutched tightly around her legs and feet." I never heard of a door made of bricks. Could it be an error? This is all I could find about doors made of bricks:https://dornob.com/hiding-in-plain-brick-wonderful-way-to-make-an-entrance/
 * If this bizarre claim should, by any chance, remain in the article, it should be stated as a claim someone made, together whatever evidence supports the claim, not just stated in matter of fact way. If the house really did contain a door made of bricks, it would be astounding. If it really did result in the death of the girl, it would be even more remarkable.
 * Arms can clutch somthing tightly, but they cannot be clutched tightly around something.
 * It says, "her legs were bent under the concrete as if she was kneeling". First, this contradicts the claim that her legs were pinned by "a door made of bricks". Second, it sounds like the girl might have been in a kneeling position with the lower part of each leg trapped. If so, the article should say so. The phrase "bent under the concrete" is confusing. Also, if she was in a kneeling position, the article should say so. To say, "as if she was kneeling" suggests that she might not actually have been in a kneeling position, which is confusing.
 * It says, "Lacking the surgical equipment to save her from the effects of an amputation, the doctors present agreed that it would be more humane to let her die." It is highly unclear, and possibly a case of weasel words, to speak of "the effects of an amputation" without saying what is meant by that. The effects of an amputation carried out by a surgeon do not usually include death, so it is bizarre to claim that "the doctors present" chose to let her die in order that she should not suffer those "effects".
 * "rescue workers did not have any way to render life-saving medical care if they amputated her hopelessly pinned legs." Why were they "hopelessly pinned"? How heavy can a door made of bricks be? Why couldn't it be lifted using car or truck jacks? This sounds like a claim that should be supported by evidence, or at least stated as a claim by a particular source, and not as fact.
 * "she transformed from calmness into agony". That is ungrammatical. It's an evaluation not supported by a citation, and it not supported by anything else in the article. It looks like someone used poetic license here. Before she died she talked about being worried about missing school, according to another part of the article, which suggests that she was not in agony.
 * It says, "When rescue teams tried to help her, they realized that her legs were trapped under her house's roof" which contradicts the claim, stated as a fact elsewhere in the article, that her legs were trapped under a brick door. Also, was it normal in 1985 for a house's roof to be made out of concrete in Colombia? I thought roofs of houses were made out of wood and tiles. Recall that her legs were said to have been trapped under concrete, in another part of the article.
 * "her rescuers attempted to pull her out, but found the task impossible without breaking her legs in the process." They weren't *her* rescuers, since they did not succeed at the task. It contradicts the statement that amputation would be needed, and it's confusing, since broken legs is not as bad as a slow death in a pool of water. It's quite annoying to read this. Polar Apposite (talk) 13:53, 13 March 2024 (UTC)