Thirty-one children were burned to death when their bus caught fire and exploded in northern Colombia on Sunday, the Red Cross said.
Another 25 people – including one adult – were injured and seriously burned in the blaze at the town of Fundacion, in the department of Magdalena, Cesar Uruena with the Colombian Red Cross said.
“The injured have second and third-degree burns, and many are still in a critical condition” in hospitals in the area and in the city of Santa Marta, Uruena said.
The children aboard the bus were between the ages of one and eight and were returning home after a religious service, Fundacion Mayor Luz Stella Duran told reporters.
Magdalena police said that the bus exploded around noon, and that the fire was so intense they had problems determining the number of casualties.
Stella Duran said that – according to survivors – the bus driver had been handling a container with gasoline aboard the vehicle. Police initially blamed the fire on a mechanical problem.
The driver has vanished, and angry locals went to his home and threw rocks at his windows, the mayor said.