Thirteen pilgrims en route to religious festivities in the Jalisco town of San Juan de Los Lagos died when their minibus overturned on the Leon-Aguascalientes highway, near Lagos de Morena, in the early hours of Saturday, January 30.
A spokesperson from the Jalisco Civil Protection and Fire Department suggested that the driver, who also died in the accident, may have fallen asleep at the wheel. The bus, which was transporting 22 passengers, set off from Toluca at 1 a.m. and was scheduled to make the trip in six hours. The injured were taken to hospitals in Lagos de Morena and Leon, where six were reported to be in “serious” condition.
According to social media posts from the company that rented out the minibus (Transportes Turisticos Guadalupe S.A de C.V in Toluca), their minibuses have a capacity for 20 people and are equipped with a TV screen, air conditioning, reclining seats and USB ports.
The pilgrims were headed to the religious tourist center of San Juan de los Lagos to pay homage to the revered image of the Virgin Mary called Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos. In pre-Covid times, more than two million people regularly descended on the town for the February 2 Día de la Candelaria (Candlemas Day) festivities in honor of the virgin. Pilgrims were discouraged from making the trip this year with the fourth Omicron Covid wave currently at its peak.
San Juan de los Lagos is the second most visited pilgrimage site in Mexico, after the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City.