Mother, daughter die of injuries from food-truck blast

The mother and daughter who were seriously injured when the food truck they were working in exploded in Feltonville have died, the Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office confirmed Thursday.

Olga Galdamez, 42, died Sunday, and her daughter, Jaylin Landaverry-Galdamez, 17, died Tuesday from the burns they suffered in the July 1 explosion.

Police said they believed the truck, parked at Third Street and Wyoming Avenue, exploded because of a leak in one of the propane tanks attached to the back.

Another person injured in the explosion, a 27-year-old woman who is related to Galdamez, remained at Temple University Hospital in fair condition. A 23-year-old man who had been passing by the truck as it exploded was initially listed in critical condition at Temple but has been released.

Teachers and administrators at Little Flower High School, where Landaverry-Galdamez would have been a senior this fall, described her as a good student without much time for extracurricular activities, as each day she went home to help her mother with the family's food truck.

Much of the truck's proceeds went toward tuition at Little Flower, said Carol Dauerbach, Landaverry's theology teacher. Landaverry had asked Dauerbach to write a college recommendation letter for her, and hoped to become a gynecologist, she said.

"I can see her vividly in my mind, where she sat in the classroom," Dauerbach said. "There was always a slight smile and a feeling of peace around her. She was a simple girl, and she saw life through eyes that chose happiness."