Bogotá firefighters rescued 35-year-old Carlos Esteban Rebolledo from rubble in Cali on Monday after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck the region [1, 2].

The rescue provides a rare moment of hope amid a mounting humanitarian crisis. The quake caused widespread structural collapses, leaving hundreds of people missing or injured across the country.

The rescue operation was carried out by the Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team from the Bogotá Fire Department [1, 2]. Rebolledo remained trapped under debris for several hours before crews located and extracted him [3].

Colombian authorities said the disaster has caused 224 deaths nationwide [1]. The impact in Cali was particularly severe, though reports on the local death toll vary significantly. Semana reported 95 deaths in the city [5], while AmericaTV reported approximately 28 [4].

In addition to the fatalities, the scale of the injury toll highlights the intensity of the seismic event. Semana reported 949 injuries in Cali [6]. The number of people still trapped under collapsed structures also differs by source, with estimates ranging from 239 [7] to approximately 250 [8].

Emergency crews continue to search through the debris of collapsed buildings in Cali and surrounding areas. The magnitude 7.4 quake triggered the initial collapse of the structure where Rebolledo was found [1, 9].

Rescue teams from different regions of Colombia have converged on Cali to assist local responders. The USAR team from Bogotá utilized specialized equipment to locate survivors beneath the concrete, and steel of the city's fallen infrastructure [1, 2].

“Bogotá firefighters rescued 35-year-old Carlos Esteban Rebolledo from rubble in Cali”

The discrepancy in casualty figures between reports from Semana and AmericaTV suggests that official tallies are still fluctuating as rescue operations continue. The deployment of specialized USAR teams from the capital to Cali underscores the scale of the structural failure and the necessity of high-level technical expertise to locate survivors in the wake of a 7.4 magnitude event.