Five veterinary students died when the bus taking them to field practice overturned on a curve and crashed into the roadside.
The five victims – all young women – died at the scene of the accident, which is believed to have been caused by brake failure.
Twenty-three others were taken to local hospitals with injuries and seven have since been discharged.
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The deceased have been named as Karen Lorena Camero Galvis, 18, María Alejandra Blanco Bueno, 22, Paula Andrea Camargo Marín, 20, Valentina Cifuentes Rueda, 19 and Mileidy Katherine Galvis Moreno, 20.
A young woman who survived the crash on Saturday (5 Oct) recalled how the driver stepped on the brake but the bus wouldn’t stop.
She said: “He swerved around two cars and was going super fast when the incident happened. When we flipped over, we all fell.
“I closed my eyes because it was so shocking for me. I was really scared, and I got out of the bus as best as I could.”
The bus crashed and overturned in La Mesa, west of Bogotá, Colombia.
María’s dad, Juan Carlos Blanco, told local media how he learnt of his daughter’s fate.
He said: “My daughter hadn’t answered her phone all morning, so I called her again, and a lieutenant answered.
“He told me that the bus my daughter was on had been in an accident.”
Mileidy leaves behind a one-year-old child, as reported by Need To Know.
Her best friend, Daniela Aldana, told local media: “She gave everything for her baby and for her mum, whom she always remembered.
“She studied for her dad and wanted to leave a legacy for her daughter.”
The five deceased victims were only a year away from completing their studies.
The authorities have opened an investigation into the crash and will try to determine if the driver was speeding at the time.
The survivor claimed: “He definitely had the option to use the handbrake or something like that, 100%.”
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