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Colombia adoptees find family decades after volcano tragedy

Nov 14, 2019 | 5:49 PM

BOGOTA — Jenifer de la Rosa was just a week old when Colombia’s Nevado del Ruiz volcano exploded, unleashing a wall of mud that buried an entire town and left 25,000 dead.

In the aftermath of the 1985 disaster the infant was handed over to a Red Cross worker and eventually adopted by a Spanish couple.

Now a documentary filmmaker, she’s been on a quest to answer one question that has haunted her: What happened to her biological family?

On Thursday, a genetic institute in Colombia announced it has solved part of the puzzle, with scientists revealing they have confirmed through DNA testing that a woman still living in the country is her sister.