An overcrowded bus carrying young people home from a church service caught fire on a street in a northern city Sunday and at least 32 children were killed, authorities said, according to Reuters.
The regional police chief, Col. Adan Leon, said 18 people, including some adults, had been found alive at the disaster in the city of Fundacion, which is about 465 miles north of Bogota, but said information was not complete and he warned that the death toll could rise, Reuters reported.
Leon said most of the estimated 50 people on the bus were younger than 14, according to Reuters. "That adds to the tragedy," he said.
The charred bodies of victims were being identified using dental records in Barranquilla, the nearest city to Fundacion town where the accident happened, said Major Eduardo Velez, coordinator of Magdalena province's emergency response corps, Reuters reported.
Eighteen people managed to escape and were being treated at hospitals in the region, according to Reuters.
"There was a canister of gasoline inside the vehicle. The fire spread very fast," Velez told Reuters.
Local officials said the bus was rated to carry only 38 passengers and an investigation was underway, Reuters reported.
Mayor Luz Estella Duran told RCN television news that investigators had not yet determined what caused the fire, according to Reuters.
Officials said the people on the bus were returning from an event at an evangelical Christian church, Reuters reported.
The bus was owned by a private transport company and was used during the week to take children to and from school, according to Reuters.
President Juan Manuel Santos, who was attending campaign events in Bogota a week before Colombia's presidential election, announced that he would travel to Fundacion, Reuters reported.
