Court in Fundación, Colombia, Holds Pentecostal Church and Local Authorities Responsible for 2014 Bus Fire That Killed 33 Children

The Administrative Court of Magdalena ordered the United Pentecostal Church of Colombia to pay about 25 billion pesos to relatives of the 33 children who died in a bus fire in the municipality of Fundación, Magdalena. Lafm.com.co reported on May 17, 2014, that the children died on a bus that day. A later report from prime.tirant.com dated May 18, 2014, gave the date of the fire as May 18.

Álvaro Torres, president of the United Pentecostal Church of Colombia, said the church respects the court ruling but will appeal it. He said the church did not hire the bus and does not consider itself fully responsible. Torres said the church had spent about 1 billion pesos accompanying affected families through a network of psychologists. The church described the bus trip as a good-faith action by one of its parishioners that ended in tragedy.

According to the later report, Subsection A of the Third Section of the Council of State sentenced the United Pentecostal Church of Colombia, the municipality of Fundación and the Secretariat of Transit and Transport of that territorial entity for their responsibility. The judgment, delivered on December 6, 2024, in file 68.702, concerns the deaths of 33 children and injuries suffered by 35 others. The two reports describe the court and the timing differently, and this article reports each version as it was stated.

The Council of State’s judgment, as summarized in that report, identified the direct cause of the crash as the reckless maneuver of the driver, who tried to supply the vehicle’s carburetor with a pipe. It found that the bus did not meet the technical and legal conditions for operating and that the driver lacked the documents in order. The court also said the church was responsible for transferring the children after Sunday school and did not guarantee their safety, a duty that falls under protecting the vulnerable (Mark 9:42). The municipality and its Secretariat for Transit and Transport were faulted for lack of control and surveillance in regulating the transport of minors, and the court concluded that these entities’ inaction contributed to the tragedy.

The office of jurists that filed the complaint said the ruling places 100% of responsibility on the church and disassociates the District of Barranquilla, the Ministry of Transport and the National Police from liability. The report does not state whether those three bodies were parties to the case or what the court decided about them beyond this description from the complainants’ office.

The report also says that Manuel Ibarra, an evangelical leader, was sentenced to ten years, served the sentence under house arrest, and lost his only daughter in the accident.