The body of a 24-year-old groom-to-be, whose wedding was less than a week away, was pulled from the wreckage of a collapsed hotel in Colombia following Monday’s catastrophic 7.4 magnitude earthquake.
Juan Felipe Giraldo was due to marry Natalia Patiño, the mother of his child, on Aug. 16. He disappeared in the city of Pereira after the powerful earthquake tore through parts of the South American country, international outlet Infobae reported.
“Forever and always my heart, you were the most complete love I ever had. I love you forever,” Patiño wrote Friday in an emotional tribute shared to her Instagram story.
Giraldo and Patiño lived together in Bogotá, Colombia’s capital, and shared a 2-year-old son, according to the outlet.
An eyewear salesman, Giraldo had traveled to Pereira for work just hours before the deadly quake struck. He was staying at the Hotel Dibeni in the city center when the building collapsed.
As word spread that Giraldo was missing, his father, Hernán Giraldo, rushed to Pereira and joined rescue crews in a desperate day-and-night search for his son.
Before the disaster, Giraldo reportedly sent a video to his fiancée. That footage later helped rescuers determine where he had been inside the hotel after the earthquake brought the structure down, Parati reported.
“There is life, there are small signs of life, and if there is life there is hope,” Hernán said in a video recorded during the search and rescue operation earlier this week.
“Son, I love you, on Sunday you are going to be getting married, and if not on Sunday, it will be in 8, 15 days, but you will be there, son,” Hernán said prior to the recovery of his son’s body.
The 7.4 magnitude quake struck the South American country in the early hours of Monday morning.
Following the disaster, 294 people have died and 3,935 more have been injured, according to the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD) Colombia’s report on Saturday.
Over 300 people remain missing as of Saturday.
