Armero buried 41 years ago
On this day in 1985, a volcanic mudslide killed approximately 23,000 people in Colombia.
By Martin Reynolds ·
Approximately 23,000 residents of Armero, Colombia, died on November 13, 1985, when a volcanic mudslide buried the city.
The disaster occurred 41 years ago today. The event stands as one of the most devastating natural disasters in South American history.
The day also marks several other historical events. In 1775, Continental Army Gen. Richard Montgomery led American troops in the capture of Montreal during the Revolutionary War. In 1909, a fire in a coal mine in Cherry, Illinois, killed 259 men and boys. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the illegality of Alabama bus segregation laws in 1956. In 1971, the Mariner 9 space probe entered orbit around Mars, becoming the first spacecraft to do so.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in 1982. In 2001, U.S.-backed Northern Alliance fighters entered Kabul as Taliban forces retreated from the capital. In 2015, Islamic State militants carried out coordinated attacks in Paris, killing 130 people in the worst attack on French soil since World War II. Four University of Idaho students were fatally stabbed in Moscow, Idaho, in 2022. Suspect Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty to the murders in 2025 and received four life sentences without parole.
Notable figures born on this day include actor Joe Mantegna, who is 79, and Hockey Hall of Famer Gilbert Perreault, who is 76. Actor Frances Conroy turns 74, and actor Chris Noth turns 72. Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska is 62. Talk show host Jimmy Kimmel is 59, as is actor Steve Zahn. Actor Gerard Butler is 57.
Olympic swimming gold medalist Dana Vollmer is 39. Actor Devon Bostick is 35, and singer Julia Michaels is 33. Race car driver Lando Norris is 27, and tennis player Emma Raducanu is 24.
