Needed: a Miracle

The Virgin of Quinche (rhymes with keen shay), a rejected piece of religious statuary which a sculptor had traded to the Indians of Ayacachi in 1586 for a few pieces of lumber, was credited with miraculous powers. She could cure fistulas and the pox and prevent disasters as well. Last week the Virgin of Quinche figured in the greatest railway disaster in Ecuador's history.

North of Quito, an old, worn-out locomotive huffed and puffed its way through steep mountain passes, carrying faithful Quitenos on their annual pilgrimage to the Virgin's upland shrine. Eating, singing and chattering pilgrims jammed the seats and aisles of the ancient wooden coaches, clung to roofs, windows and couplings.

Suddenly a coupling parted. The heavily loaded car rolled back, jumped the track and plunged down the mountainside. Of the 400 in and on the car, 114 were killed and 206 injured. A pregnant woman who had been riding on the roof gave birth to her child in the wreckage, then died.

President Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra proclaimed a national day of mourning. Neighboring countries rushed plasma and medicines. Railway men doubted that even Quinche's famed Virgin could prevent railway disasters until Ecuador could buy new rolling stock and spare parts from the U.S.

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