She was seen as a 'miracle baby' after being born in a tree which her mother had climbed to escape flooding, but nearly 26 years on, Mozambican Rosita Salvador Mabuiango has died after a long illness, her sister told the BBC.
The sight of the newborn and her mother being winched to safety by helicopter amid the deluged landscape became one of the defining images of the Mozambique floods of 2000 – the country's worst ever.
Reflecting on Rosita's life, President Daniel Chapo described her as a symbol for girls in the country.
In February 2000, hundreds died and hundreds of thousands of others were forced from their homes after the Limpopo River burst its banks in southern Mozambique.
Rosita's mother, Carolina Cecilia Chirindza, was among those caught up in the crisis. It was a Sunday afternoon about four o'clock, and the waters began rising, the Red Cross quoted her as saying later in 2000. The water was coming right up to the house, and was getting stronger and stronger, so like everyone else in the village, we headed for the trees. I put my two small children on my back and tried to climb up. It was very difficult.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning after four days of sheltering in the trees, Carolina went into labor and shortly afterwards she and the newborn were spotted by a South African military helicopter that was assisting in the rescue operations.
On Monday, confirming the news of Rosita's death at 25, her sister Celia Salvador told the BBC that she had passed away after a prolonged illness. I'm extremely sad. She died of an illness I am unable to explain what it was. According to other family sources, Rosita had been battling against the blood disorder anaemia for years.
Her death sparked condolences from the President, who emphasized her symbolic importance for girls in Mozambique. Political analyst Charles Mangwiro called her passing a wake-up call for the government to reform the healthcare system, emphasizing the ongoing challenges of underfunded and overstretched health services.
Rosita, who graduated from high school and had her own daughter five years ago, had become a poignant reminder of the resiliency and struggles facing many in her community.
