Mexican bishops mourn pilgrims killed in traffic accident

Rescue personal work at the site of a road accident in Veracruz Mexico May 29 2019 Credit Guillermo Carreon AFP Getty Imagesjp

Rescue personnel work at the site of a road accident in Veracruz, Mexico, May 29, 2019. A semi crashed into a bus carrying pilgrims. | Guillermo Carreon/AFP/Getty Images.

Orizaba, Mexico, May 30, 2019 / 16:19 pm

Bishops in Mexico are mourning those dead and injured from an accident Wednesday involving a cargo truck and a bus carrying pilgrims who had visited the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

At least 21 people died May 29 when seemingly the cargo truck's brakes failed and it crashed into a bus carrying pilgrims on a highway near Maltrata, fewer than 20 miles west of Orizaba in Veracruz. Another 30 were injured.

The pilgrims were from Saints Peter and Paul parish in Tuxtla Gutiérrez in Chiapas.

The Archdiocese of Tuxtla Gutiérrez lamented the death of the pilgrims and asked God to strengthen the spirit of their families.

"At the same time we express our solidarity with the injured, to whom we offer the efforts at our disposal to help them return to their homes as soon as possible," the local Church stated.

Archbishop Rogelio Cabrera López of Monterrey, president of the Mexican bishops' conference, said that "I join the grief and the prayers for the faithful of the parish of San Pedro and San Pablo de Tuxtla Gutiérrez in Chiapas who suffered the accident on their return from the pilgrimage to Tepeyac. Blessings for all."