An excursion by students and their teachers ended with a tragedy on Saturday when their bus crashed in western Colombia, killing at least 10 people and injuring 11, said their university.
The bus driver lost control of the vehicle because he was carrying 26 Tolima passengers to Quindio, according to a preliminary investigation.
Several people were thrown from the bus when it struck the barrier on the Helicoil bridge side in the Quindio region, police commander Luis Fernando Atuesta said.
“Several passengers were ejected and fell into the abyss,” said the officer, adding that investigations were underway to “establish the conditions for this unfortunate accident”.
Humboldt University in the Colombian city of Armenia said in a statement that it declared two days of mourning after “the painful loss of several of our colleagues, students, teachers and administrators” in the accident.
The bus was carrying “22 students, two teachers and a communications agent,” said director of the University Diego Fernando Jaramillo Lopez in a video.
Road accidents are one of the main causes of death in Colombia, which have reached an average of 22 deaths per day per day in 2024, according to the National Highway Authority.
