Mexico village reels after truck tragedy

A rural village in northern Mexico is reeling after a truck lost control and crushed into a crowd of pilgrims, with six of the 26 dead related to one devastated farmer.

Most of Santa Rosa's 100 residents participated in a religious procession in the neighboring town of Mazapil in Zacatecas state on Wednesday when the dump truck slammed into the pilgrims.

Around 10 of the dead were from Santa Rosa, a village of modest homes surrounded by fields of corns and beans so remote that cellphone connection is weak.

One man, Jesus Solis Garza, lost two children, a grandson and three nephews in the tragedy.

Wearing a cowboy hat, the farmer known as "Don Chuy" grieved as he waited for the bodies in his humble brick and tin-roofed home.

A grey coffin containing the body of his 48-year-old daughter Solis arrived in a rickety pick-up truck. Her two children, who had leg injuries, were in tears.
Garza broke down as the bodies of his son Julio and his 17-year-old grandson Francisco Javier were delivered.

"It's very tough," Garza said, the only words he could muster between sobs.

Every year, Santa Rosa's residents go to Mazapil to celebrate their patron saint, Father Jesus, between July 29 and August 6. Such processions for religious figures are common in Mexico, a deeply Roman Catholic nation of nearly 120 million people.

Hundreds of people were marching down the main street when the truck, which was packed with sand, lost its brakes, crashed into cars and mowed down pilgrims before flipping on its side.

- 'Miracle we're alive' -

Esperanza Serrano, her husband and 16-year-old daughter survived the horrific accident, but she has not eaten or slept since that nightmarish day.
"We are all united here. This is a terrible blow to the community," Serrano said.

"We were in front of the procession. We saw the truck hitting vehicles and then lots of dust," she said. "I ran back and my daughter was on the ground, full of dirt. She was terrified."

Survivors are outraged by the driver's escape from the scene -- authorities say he jumped out of the truck before its final impact. Police are looking for him.

"If he saw that he had no brakes, he should have turned to hit a wall and caused less damage," Serrano said.

Some 120 people in all were injured in the crash. Most were released from hospitals but around 10 remained in serious condition. Of the 26 dead, four were children between the ages of one and five.
Pope Francis said he was "deeply saddened" by the accident in a letter of condolences sent by the Vatican to the diocese of Zacatecas.

Esperanza Serrano and her husband sat in front of each other as they relived the tragedy.

"It's a miracle we're alive, old man," Serrano told her husband.