Bosnia bus crash injures 27 Americans and Bosnian driver

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina-A bus carrying Americans to a Catholic shrine in southern Bosnia collided with another vehicle Monday, injuring 27 passengers and the Bosnian bus driver, hospital officials said.

"We are currently accessing the injuries and all I can say now is that three people sustained serious injuries, possibly life-threatening," said Dr. Lidija Lincender of Sarajevo's Kosevo hospital.

Twenty of the injured were hospitalized in the Kosevo hospital, and another seven were taken to the General Hospital, the embassy said.

Bosnian police said the bus, which had been carrying 34 passengers, collided with another vehicle in vehicle in Tarcin, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Sarajevo. No details about the accident could be released because an investigation was under way, police said.

The embassy said the bus passengers had been on their way to the southern Bosnian town of Medjugorje, where millions of faithful have visited a shrine since 1981, when six Bosnian Croats said they began seeing apparitions of the Virgin Mary. The Medjugorje apparition has not been officially recognized by the Catholic Church.

"We are not here to give a judgment about whether the apparitions are true or not. We're here to follow the people who come, to hear their confessions, to give them pastoral care," said Father Sesar, the 39-year-old pastor.
Father Sesar said that, while early pilgrims to Medjugorje may have been drawn there by curiosity or a thirst for supernatural signs like rosaries turning different colors, that is less true today. Much more significant are the long lines for confession that form every day, he said.
"The biggest things in Medjugorje today are prayer and the sacraments. It's no longer a place where people come to see miracles. They are coming for spiritual growth," he said.
Considerable attention, however, is still given to the apparitions and messages which one of the visionaries, Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti, says she continues to receive. She now lives with her husband and children in Italy.
The message from May 2006 strikes a pious tone typical of most of the thousands of alleged communications over the last 25 years: "Decide for holiness, little children, and think of heaven. Only in this way will you have peace in your heart that no one will be able to destroy. Peace is a gift, which God gives you in prayer."
At the Vatican, officials said they are still monitoring events at Medjugorje, but emphasized that it was not necessarily the Vatican's role to issue an official judgment on the alleged apparitions there.
More than once in recent years, the Vatican has said that dioceses or parishes should not organize official pilgrimages to Medjugorje. That reflects the policy of the bishops.
But the Vatican has also said Catholics are free to travel to the site, and that if they do the church should provide them with pastoral services.
That has left a margin of ambiguity among Catholics. Adding to the confusion have been claims that the late Pope John Paul II strongly supported Medjugorje in various private statements; the Vatican has never confirmed those statements.
After Pope Benedict was elected, it was rumored that as a cardinal he had once traveled incognito to Medjugorje, and that as pope he could be expected to officially approve the site as a Marian shrine. In his February visit to the Vatican, Bishop Peric said he spoke to the pope about these rumors, and that the pontiff only laughed in surprise.
Pope Benedict, who headed the doctrinal congregation for 24 years, once said the multiplication of Marian apparitions was a "sign of the times" and should not be discounted. But he has also counseled prudence, even when it comes to apparitions officially recognized by the church, like those at Fatima, Portugal; Guadalupe, Mexico; and Lourdes, France.
Behind the Vatican's careful approach is a basic church teaching: that public revelation ended with the death of the last apostle, and that no private revelation, however interesting, will add anything essential to the faith.

Not making a judgment either way. Just pointing to what was said in the link you provided.

The wreckage of the Bosnian-owned tourist bus transporting American tourist is seen in a river near the Bosnia-Herzegovina's town of Tarcin, some 40 kilometers south of Sarajevo, Monday, June 11, 2007. A bus carrying Americans to a Catholic shrine in southern Bosnia collided with another vehicle Monday, injuring 27 passengers and the Bosnian bus driver, hospital officials said. The U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo said the American group were from Wisconsin. (AP Photo)

Rachel Rinke of Jackson,WI., sits in a wheelchair in Sarajevo hospital as she waits further medical treatment after a Bosnian-owned tourist bus which was transporting American tourist rolled over in a river near the Bosnia-Herzegovina town of Tarcin, some 40 kilometers south of Sarajevo, Monday, June 11, 2007. More than 20 US citizens were injured. The bus had been transporting pilgrims from the United States to the village of Medjugorje, where an apparition of the Holy Virgin Mary is alleged to have appeared. A total of 34 passengers and a driver were in the bus at the time of the accident, reports said. (AP Photo)

This is the latest I could find, updated from a few minutes ago:

Wis. priest, others injured in Bosnia bus crash

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina - A bus carrying a group of mainly Wisconsin residents to a Catholic shrine in southern Bosnia collided with another vehicle Monday, injuring 27 passengers and the Bosnian bus driver, hospital officials said.

Dr. Lidija Lincender of Sarajevo's Kosevo hospital said the injuries were being assessed, "and all I can say now is that three people sustained serious injuries, possibly life-threatening."

The U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo said the American group were from Wisconsin.

Twenty of the injured were hospitalized in the Kosevo hospital, and another seven were taken to the General Hospital, the embassy said.

In Wisconsin, Kathleen Hohl of the Milwaukee Roman Catholic Archdiocese said the group of 34 people included one from South Dakota and the rest from Wisconsin 27 of whom are from throughout the Milwaukee archdiocese. They left Chicago Sunday on a 10-day pilgrimage, and the accident involved a collision with a jackknifed truck, she said.

The Rev. Rick Wendell, serving as spiritual director on the privately sponsored tour, suffered injuries that were not life-threatening, Hohl said. She said Wendell, who is in his late 40s and was ordained last year, is associate pastor at Holy Angels Parish in West Bend, Wis.

Bosnian police said the bus collided with another vehicle in Tarcin, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Sarajevo. No details about the accident could be released because an investigation was under way, police said.

Leslie Phillips, a U.S. Department of State spokeswoman, said she couldn't release any information on the bus passengers without their permission.

The embassy was sending representatives to hospitals to obtain more information from the passengers, she said.

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