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Gregorio Borgia/AP Photo
Tragedy

Three relatives of Pope Francis - including two babies - killed in car crash

A Vatican spokesman said the Pope was “deeply pained”.

TWO INFANT GRANDNEPHEWS of Pope Francis and their mother were killed early this morning when their car slammed into the back of a truck in Argentina, authorities said.

The pope’s nephew Emanuel Horacio Bergoglio, who was behind the wheel at the time of the crash, was in serious condition, they said.

His children — aged eight months and two years old — were killed in the crash along with their mother, Cordoba police commissioner Carina Ferreyra said.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said the pope had been informed about the accident and was “deeply pained.”

“He asks all those who share in his pain to join him in prayer,” Lombardi added.

The family was travelling on a highway in the central province of Cordoba when their vehicle slammed into the back of a truck and burst into flames, police said.

The circumstances surrounding the crash were under investigation.

Bergoglio, who was hospitalised with multiple injuries, is the 38-year-old son of Alberto, the pope’s late brother.

James Craik James Craik in Cordoba in Argentina, where the crash happened Google Maps Google Maps

Both he and his two-year-old son were pulled from the wreckage alive and taken to hospital some 30 kilometres away where the child died shortly after being admitted.

“The boy had severe trauma to the thorax and a collapsed cranium. We worked for an hour but he didn’t survive his injuries,” said the hospital’s adjunct director Ignacio Bruno.

Another hospital official, Sergio Arroyo, said Bergoglio was admitted around 1am with multiple trauma, an exposed fracture of the right humerus and a liver injury, which was operated on.

“He is breathing with the help of a respirator,” Arroyo told reporters.

The truck driver, a 60-year-old man, was not hurt.

The accident happened some 550 kilometres northwest of the capital Buenos Aires near the city of James Craik.

Tuesday marked the end of a long weekend in Argentina, and traffic was heavy as travellers made their way home from their holidays.

The weather in the area was fine at the time of the crash.

Fire Chief Gustavo Ponce de Leon told the TN television channel that Bergoglio was conscious when he was rescued and that he was at the wheel while his wife and children were in the back seat.

- © AFP, 2014

Read: Pope Francis has endorsed the use of force to stop Islamic militants in Iraq > 

Read: Not-so-warm welcome: North Korea fires rockets as Pope Francis arrives in the South > 

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