WHEN news first broke about a coach crash in Jordan, it seemed to be another sad headline from a country far away.

In the hours since, however, this has become a York tragedy. Several people on that bus come from this city.

It was a long, grim night for local families as they waited for news. Their agony is intensified by the distance involved.

This was not an ordinary holiday. It was a pilgrimage to a land very different to our own. The bus collided with a truck on a sunburned, dusty highway, which could not look any more removed from rain-swept York.

With satellite technology and air travel, we like to think we have shrunk the world. But communication and cultural barriers can still be formidable.

The language of suffering is universal, however, and we are sure the Jordanian authorities have been working with the British consulate to get accurate information to anxious relatives.

The pilgrims belong to the Methodist Church, a tight-knit community, particularly in York. Today the Rev Stephen Burgess, chairman of the York and Hull Methodist District, led the prayers for all involved.

Members of the church were quick to come together and offer one another comfort and support.

Our thoughts, too, are with everyone affected by this terrible accident.

Updated: 09:40 Friday, October 29, 2004