12 pilgrims killed in bus crash

A bus carrying pilgrims to a shrine in Bosnia skidded from a highway in northern Croatia early Saturday, killing at least 12 people and injuring several others, authorities said.

Croatian police said on Twitter that “in the skidding of a bus with Polish license plates, according to initial information from the field, 11 people died and several were injured.” Officials said one more passenger died later in a hospital and that the bus was carrying 43 people.

Croatia’s state HRT television reported that about 30 people were injured, many seriously. It said the most likely cause of the crash was the driver falling asleep. The broadcaster showed video of a smashed bus in a ditch next to the highway. The bus was traveling in the direction of Zagreb, Croatia’s capital.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the bus was taking pilgrims to a Catholic shrine in Medjugorje, a town in southern Bosnia. The shrine is Europe’s third-most popular pilgrimage destination after Lourdes and Fatima, although the Vatican has not verified any of the reported miracles that witnesses claimed to have seen there.

Croatian Interior Minister Davor Bozinic said the bus originated from near Warsaw. The crash happened about 30 miles north of Zagreb on a highway that is busy during peak tourism season.