Bulgaria witnesses worst bus crash: 12 children killed among 45

By Deevika N | First Published Nov 23, 2021, 4:23 PM IST

A Bulgarian interior ministry official said it was unclear if the bus had caught fire and then crashed or burst into flames after crashing.

At least 45 people including 12 children were killed in a bus crash in western Bulgaria early Tuesday morning. The accident occurred on the Struma highway about 45 kilometres west of the Bulgarian capital Sofia at around 2 am local time. The bus was registered in North Macedonia and was mainly carrying tourists from the country, who were returning from Turkey.

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear. Officials said an investigation will be launched. Fortunately, seven people escaped from the bus and were taken to hospital with burns. A Bulgarian interior ministry official said it was unclear if the bus had caught fire and then crashed or burst into flames after crashing.

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Interim Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov was quoted by Reuters saying bodies were “clustered inside and are burnt to ash. The picture is terrifying, terrifying. I have never seen anything like that before,” he told reporters at the site.

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Bulgaria’s interim Prime Minister, Stefan Yanev, said, “We have an enormous tragedy here.” The North Macedonian Prime Minister, Zoran Zaev, said he had spoken to one of the survivors who told him the passengers were sleeping when they were woken by the sound of an explosion. “I am terrified. This is such a huge tragedy,” he told television channel BTV.

Zaev said he spoke to one of the survivors, who told him that passengers were sleeping when the sound of an explosion woke them. “He and the other six survivors broke the windows of the bus and managed to escape and save themselves,” Zaev told Bulgarian media.

The head of Bulgaria’s investigative service, Borislav Sarafov, said four buses from a North Macedonian travel agency had entered Bulgaria late on Monday from Turkey. “Human mistake by the driver or a technical malfunction are the two initial versions for the accident,” he said.

Bulgarian news agency Novinite said representatives from Macedonia's embassy visited a hospital where some of the victims were taken.

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