Today all flags at the HQ MNC NE were lowered to half-mast as a sign of mourning. In this way all members of the Headquarters paid a tribute to 26 pilgrims who died yesterday in an accident near the south-eastern city of Grenoble in the French Alps. The national mourning in Poland will last until Wednesday.
A coach with 50 people was on the way back from the shrine of Notre-dame-de-la-Salette. There were 47 pilgrims mostly from the Westpomeranian Region of Poland, two drivers and a courier. Their coach fell into a ravine while descending a steep incline between Grenoble and Gap and burst into flames. As a result 26 pilgrims were killed and another 24 were injured, some of them seriously. This stretch of a mountain road is a notorious accident blackspot in the French Alps. The reasons of this tragic event will be thoroughly investigated, however, it is possible that the brakes failed.
All members of the Headquarters join the state of mourning.
Picture by Agence France Presse
