At least 13 teens killed as bus crashes on way to Polish shrine

Published: 2005-09-30

WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- At least 13 teenagers were killed and 50 injured in a crash during a school pilgrimage from the eastern Archdiocese of Bialystok to Poland's national Marian shrine of Jasna Gora in Czestochowa. The Polish Press Agency said Sept. 30 the number of fatalities was expected to rise after the early morning tragedy, in which the pilgrims' bus collided head-on with a truck on a wet road between Bialystok and Warsaw. The agency added that police were still trying to identify numerous victims from the bus, which burst into flames on impact. It reported that students and teachers from the two local high schools were in shock. Bialystok Mayor Ryszard Tur announced three days of mourning and asked theaters and sports centers to close. Pauline Father Bogdan Waliczek, prior of the Jasna Gora monastery, said preparations were under way for a memorial Mass at the Marian shrine.

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