Five bodies recovered from Hospital Universitario del Valle following earthquake

Rescue teams recovered five bodies from the rubble of the Hospital Universitario del Valle (HUV) in Cali following a magnitude 7.4 earthquake on August 10. The recovery operation took place between Monday, August 17, and Tuesday, August 18, after technical safety verifications were completed. Authorities identified the deceased as three patients, including a 17 year old, and two companions. The bodies were handed over to the Fiscalía for identification and delivery to families.

The operation involved the Cali Fire Department, the USAR COL12 search and investigation team from the Bogota Fire Department, the Civil Defense, and the hospital's internal brigade. Rescuers utilized thermal camera drones and sonometers to inspect the affected areas. Three people were rescued alive during the first day of the emergency. Irne Torres Castro, the director of HUV, stated that the recovery process followed a specific protocol due to the difficulty of the collapse and noted that no volunteers were used for this specific operation.

With the recovery of the final body, authorities have ended the search and rescue phase. The institution will now move to debris removal and infrastructure evaluation. Technical assessments indicate that between 40 percent and 45 percent of the hospital infrastructure was affected, with some areas remaining at risk of collapse. The HUV is a high complexity institution serving patients from Valle del Cauca and other areas of southwestern Colombia.