Pope Francis on Monday sent condolences to the families of seven Italian, two Germans, a Romanian, a French, an Uzbek and an Austrian student who died a coach crash in northeast Spain.
"Pope Francis was deeply saddened to learn of tragic accident that occurred in the town of Freginals," read a telegram to Bishop Benavent Enrique Vidal of Tortosa.
The pontiff wishes to express his closeness to the families who have suffered "irreparable loss" and invokes the Lord’s blessing for their spiritual serenity and Christian hope in this time of grief, said the message.
Francis hoped those injured in Sunday's crash would recover swiftly, added the message, which was sent by Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin.
Prosecutors probing the crash that killed 13 young women believe the driver may have fallen asleep at the wheel, causing the coach to smash through the highway's central reservation, collide with an oncoming car and overturn.
The Spanish interior minister blamed "undetermined human error" for the crash, which happened at 6am at a notorious accident blackspot near Freginals, a picturesque town about 100 kilometres south of Tarragona.
The coach driver, who survived the crash, was highly experienced and had never had an accident. He tested negative for alcohol and drugs, Spanish interior minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said.
The coach was carrying 57 international exchange students from France, the Netherlands, Finland, Hungary, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, New Zealand, the UK, Italy, Peru, Bulgaria, Poland, Ireland, the Palestinian territories, Japan and Ukraine.
Of the 44 people believed to have survived, at least 28 people were hospitalised, three of whom were on Monday reported to be in a critical condition.
Most of the victims were aged between 22 and 29 and were Erasmus exchange students.
