Colombia: find out who are the 17 victims of a bus that fell off a cliff

Seventeen people died early Sunday (12/14) after a school bus fell off a cliff in Antioquia, Colombia. Most of the victims were high school students returning from a graduation trip, which took place on the beaches of Tolu. The trip was planned by the students themselves with the help of a tourism company.

Among the victims of the accident were 16 students from the Liceo Antioqueño, from the municipality of Bello, and the driver of the vehicle, an employee of the tourist transport company Precultur. According to Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, the incident occurred while the bus was traveling between Remédios and Zaragoza, in the area known as El Chispero.

List of victims of the incident

1-Carlos Cardona
2-Daniel Arismendy Fernández
3-Jonatan Alexander Taborda (Driver)
4-José Manuel Orrego Palacio
5-Juan Andrés Hincapié
6-Laura Salazar
7-Maria Camila Pérez Sánchez
8-Maria Fernanda Londoño Jiménez
9-Mariana Galvis Airs
10-Mariana Upegui Escobar
11-Mateo Castaño López
12-Mathias Berrio Cardona
13-Paulina Anduquia Builes
14-Sara Escobar Mera
15-Susana Arango Mejia
16-Valéria López
17- Yeraldin Yepes (driver)

During the journey, the vehicle, which was carrying more than 40 passengers, allegedly went out of control and fell from a height of more than 20 meters. According to preliminary information from the authorities, emergency teams transported 20 injured people to different medical centers, including several children under the age of 18, while the evacuation of the bodies and the investigation into the causes of the accident continue.

The governor also informed that the National Police is coordinating the air transport of bodies to be examined at the Medellín Forensic Institute and has decreed three days of mourning. The Secretary of Education of the municipality of Bello, Edgar de Jesús Callejas Arango, indicated that there were no teachers among the group of travelers, because the young people, aged 16 to 18, had organized the trip themselves to celebrate their graduation.

“The helicopter is already on its way to the Medellín Forensic Institute with the bodies of the 17 people who died in the accident on the highways of the northeast. Among the victims are 16 students and the bus driver. The pain of the families is inconsolable. We remain in contact with the mayor of Bello. May God enlighten us in these very difficult times,” he said.

The Government of Antioquia announced its solidarity with the families, the educational community of Liceo Antioqueño and all the inhabitants of Bello, where the students lived. In addition to the 17 fatalities in the accident, 20 were injured, including three in serious condition.