What lies behind the “cursed route” to Medjugorje, where pilgrims keep dying

A bus carrying pilgrims from the Medjugorje shrine in Bosnia and Herzegovina crashed in early August, killing 12 people. The tragedy added to a toll of 36 other deaths linked to the Marian devotion since the beginning of the 21st century.

The repeated crashes have given the road traveled by pilgrims a sinister reputation. Some have called it a “cursed route,” turning a series of fatal accidents into a dark myth surrounding one of Eastern Europe’s best-known Catholic shrines.

Medjugorje became a destination after six children were believed to have seen the Virgin Mary on June 24, 1981. The apparitions were immediately associated with a message of peace in a region divided by religious differences, which later descended into the Yugoslav wars from 1991 to 2001.

The hill where the apparitions were reported became a sanctuary for pilgrims, particularly from Eastern Europe. After the ceasefire among the former Yugoslav republics, thousands began visiting each year. The accidents listed in the report include a July 2002 crash near Lake Balaton in Hungary, which killed 20 Polish pilgrims and injured 31. Twenty bells and a copy of the Medjugorje image were later placed at the site as a memorial.

Further crashes followed. One person died and 28 were injured in Hungary in June 2007. In Bosnia and Herzegovina in May 2008, a bus collided head-on with a truck, killing three people and injuring 53. In August 2022, a bus carrying Polish pilgrims overturned on Croatia’s A4 motorway north of Zagreb, killing 12 and injuring 32. A May 2025 collision between two buses on Croatia’s A1 motorway caused six injuries but no deaths.

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cursed route