A bus carrying tourists back had an accident and caught fire in the early hours of Tuesday.
Reflexes
- The accident occurred when a group of buses was returning from a trip to Turkey.
- Bulgarian Interior Minister Bokyo Rashkov said he had never seen anything so dire in his life.
- North Macedonia’s chief prosecutor, Ljubomir Joveski, said there were 12 children among the dead.
Sofia: A bus carrying tourists back to North Macedonia crashed and caught fire in western Bulgaria early Tuesday, killing at least 45 people, including a dozen children. Officials gave this information. The bus probably collided with a ‘guardrail’ on the side of the road. However, officials said the cause of the accident is still under investigation. Photos taken shortly after the accident showed flames and black smoke billowing from the bus.
The accident occurred when a group of buses was returning from a trip to Turkey. Seven people were taken to the hospital for treatment after the accident. Bulgarian Interior Minister Bokyo Rashkov told reporters at the crash site that he had never seen anything so horrible in his life.
He said: “The picture is scary. The people on the bus have turned to coal. It is not possible to say how many people were on the bus. Four buses were returning together and the passengers may have switched buses in the middle.” North Macedonia’s chief prosecutor, Ljubomir Joveski, said there were 12 children among the dead.
The country’s prime minister, Joran Jive, also visited Bulgaria and visited the wounded in hospital. He told Bulgarian television channel BTV that one of the injured said he woke up to the sound of the explosion. His government has declared three days of national mourning in a country with a population of around two million.
Albanian Foreign Minister Olta Shhaka said that almost all of the dead were of Albanian origin. However, it is unclear whether they were residents or citizens of North Macedonia, where there is a sizeable Albinian population. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, expressed her condolences to the families and friends of those who died in the accident and said that Europe stands in solidarity with you in this hour of crisis.
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