French travel creator Emma Marie Laurent has died at 24 after the van carrying her was swept into a river during a trip to Nicaragua.
Laurent had built an online audience of about 43,000 followers by sharing her nomadic lifestyle and travels.
She had recently journeyed to Nicaragua with her friend Noë Lina Luscher, 20, to visit their 19-year-old friend Karen Nahomi López Montano, who lived there.
The three women were traveling as passengers in a Toyota pickup moving through El Manzano, a community in Nicaragua’s northwestern Chinandega department.
All three died on October 9 while the vehicle attempted to cross the Nahualapa River.
Reports said recent rain had caused the river to swell. Its strong current reportedly overwhelmed the pickup as the group tried to make the crossing.
The driver, Mexican national Martin Gerardo García Girón, reportedly left the vehicle first to assess the depth and strength of the water.
One account said the water came up to his knees before the current pulled the pickup away and caused it to overturn.
Travel influencer Emma Marie Laurent, 24, died after the vehicle she was traveling in was swept away by a fast-moving river in Nicaragua
The French influencer had attracted about 43,000 followers by chronicling her life on the road
García Girón survived, although reports vary on whether he was the only person who escaped the incident.
A local report said two other French passengers, Roger Agustín Despouys Guillaume and Laurence Gillette Despouys Marie, also reached safety.
Authorities have not yet established the full circumstances surrounding the attempted river crossing.
Nicaraguan co-president Rosario Murillo offered condolences to the victims’ relatives and highlighted the risks posed by swollen rivers during the rainy season.
‘The issue is that they were crossing a river at a time when they may not have heard the warnings about the precautions we should take during these winter months,’ she said in a speech after the tragedy.
‘Rivers are deceptive: You think they’re calm and, suddenly, the current comes rushing in.’
‘This is a tragedy. We express our solidarity and our call to remain vigilant and, in the face of such tragedies, to express our full solidarity,’ Murillo added.
Laurent’s final social media message reflected the way she viewed the world.
Laurent and her two friends died on October 9 while attempting to cross the Nahualapa River, which had reportedly risen after heavy rain and developed a powerful current
The river’s current carried the vehicle away before it overturned
Laurent described herself as ‘your barefoot BFF’ and had nearly 43,000 Instagram followers when she died
Friends and followers have shared an outpouring of tributes since news of her death emerged
‘I think the most beautiful people, inside and out, are those who know how to admire the world around them,’ she wrote.
She described the beauty of noticing small moments, from watching the sky shift before sunset to pausing over rain on a window or smiling at the sound of a stranger’s laughter.
Using the phrase ‘your barefoot BFF’ in her bio, Laurent had amassed 43,000 Instagram followers by the time of her death.
Her death has prompted an emotional response from friends, followers and fellow travelers online.
‘It’s always the nicest people who leave first,’ one person wrote in a comment on her Instagram page.
‘Gone far too soon,’ another follower said, while a third wrote: ‘I’m in denial… I can’t believe it.’
‘She always had a smile, was always in a good mood, she was an exceptional woman! You lived 24 years to the fullest.’
