Mexico: 19 dead, 32 sustain injuries in pilgrimage bus crash

A bus taking pilgrims to a religious location in central Mexico on November 26, Friday, met with a severe accident, killing 19 people and injuring 32 others. According to the Associated Press, six of the victims sustained serious injuries that they had to be airlifted to a hospital in Toluca, the state capital. The incident took place in the township of Joquicingo in the southwest of Mexico City, Ricardo de la Cruz, assistant state interior secretary reported. 

The state officials informed that the bus crashed after it allegedly failed its brakes and smashed into a building in Mexico. The bus was traveling from Michoacan, Mexico's western state, to Chalma, the religious place where Roman Catholic pilgrims have traveled for generations.

49 passengers traveling to Chalma were on board during the time of the accident

As per the Mexico News Daily website, nearly 49 pilgrims were reported to be onboard during the accident. Ten ambulances were deployed from Toluca, Lerma, Metepec, Tenancingo, Ixtapan de la Sal, and Huixquilucan, reported the Mexico News Daily, citing the Red Cross's morning statement.  Furthermore, it was reported that two helicopters were on standby to assist with urgent medical evacuations, according to Civil Protection. 

As the festive day of the Virgin of Guadalupe arrives on 12 December, many Mexicans embark on religious pilgrimages. Prior to the conquest in 1521, Chalma was a holy location in pre-Hispanic times. Believers claim that once the Spanish arrived, a cross emerged suddenly in a cave that had been devoted to an Aztec God, turning Chalma into a Christian pilgrimage place. 

As per the Associated Press, accidents are common in that area because they travel on small roadways in old buses. Mexico State is bounded on three sides by Mexico City and comprises both distant rural communities and densely populated suburbs of the metropolis. 

12 people died in a bus crash in northern Mexico

During the month of June of this year, a bus that was transporting patients for chronic disease treatment overturned near the United States border in northern Mexico, killing 12 people and injuring ten more. The Mexican Social Security Institute in Matamoros had rented the bus. When the incident happened, the patients and their family members were being transported to a hospital in the neighbouring state of Nuevo Leon for specialist care. The collision happened on a bend, close to the border bridge in the city of Reynosa, according to Pedro Granados Ramirez, the head of the Tamaulipas state civil defense agency. 

(Image: AP)