12 killed, 50 injured in major highway collision in Bulgaria
A mass collision on a Bulgarian highway, caused by dense fog, resulted in 12 deaths and dozens of injuries.
Translated by Qiyas from الجريدة — Original source
Bulgarian Health Minister Katya Yankova announced on Tuesday that at least 12 people were killed and dozens injured in two mass collisions on a highway amid dense fog.
Yankova said the dense fog on the highway connecting the capital, Sofia, with the Black Sea port of Burgas, led to the two mass collisions.
Police, firefighters, and ambulance crews rushed to the scene on the highway linking Sofia with Burgas in eastern Bulgaria. Images broadcast by local media showed cars and trucks piled up across six lanes of the highway, many of them overturned, smashed, or off course.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev described the incident as “tragic” in a statement made during a visit by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to Bulgaria. He said he had ordered aircraft to evacuate the injured and that he intended to visit the accident site.
Speaking to journalists at the scene, Interior Ministry Secretary General Lyubomir Nikolov said fog was the likely cause of the accident, which began when a bus collided with a truck on the side of the highway heading toward Burgas.
Todor Mishinev, chief inspector of the Interior Ministry’s Directorate in the Yambol region, told Nova TV that some people were still trapped inside their vehicles.
