From the pages of the South China Morning Post this week in 1985
More than 20,000 people perished when a long-dormant volcano in western Colombia erupted, triggering floods and a wall of mud that crashed into a sleeping town of 50,000 before dawn.
The town of Armero in Tolima state was reported to be at least 85 per cent destroyed. The town, just 50km from the volcano, was inundated by mud that swept down the Langunilla River after the eruption of the 5,380-metre Nevado del Ruiz volcano.
The volcano erupted in a shower of ash and lava, melting its ice cap and sending a torrent of mud and rock surging down its eastern flank. About 21,000 people died in the ensuing chaos.
Pilots flying over the stricken area said mud covered almost all of Armero, with the mud being up to 5 metres deep in some areas.
Survivors caked with mud said they escaped the dirty grey tide of death by scrambling up trees or clinging to logs swept along by the torrent. Other small towns along the river closer to the volcano were apparently spared because they sat on hills.
