Bulgarian Motorway Collisions Leave At Least 12 Dead
Dense fog triggered a series of accidents on a major highway in eastern Bulgaria, resulting in twelve fatalities and dozens of injuries.
By Ricardo Brooks ·
At least twelve people lost their lives in a series of severe traffic accidents on a major highway in eastern Bulgaria on Tuesday, November 10. The incidents occurred on the A1 motorway, a critical transport link connecting the capital city of Sofia with Burgas in the east.
Katya Ivkova, the health minister, provided the initial casualty figures. She reported that ten victims died at the scene of the crash, while two others succumbed to their injuries during transport to medical facilities. In total, forty-six injured individuals were taken for treatment following the collisions.
Local media outlets shared disturbing images from the site, revealing cars and large trucks piled up across all six lanes of the highway. The extent of the damage forced authorities to close the road in both directions, causing significant disruption to traffic flow in the region.
Lyubomir Nikolov from the interior ministry identified dense fog as the likely cause of the pile-ups. He briefed reporters at the scene, explaining that the poor visibility conditions led to a chain reaction of crashes involving multiple vehicles.
The sequence of events began with a collision between a bus and a truck on the side of the highway. This initial impact appears to have triggered further accidents as other drivers struggled to react to the sudden obstruction in the fog.
Emergency services, including police, firefighters, and ambulance crews, rushed to the location to manage the crisis. Chief Inspector Todor Mishinev, a regional official with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, noted that some individuals remained trapped inside their vehicles during the initial response phase.
Mishinev told Nova TV that rescue operations were the immediate priority. He stated that once the victims were freed and stabilized, procedural and investigative actions would commence to determine the full details of the incident.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev described the event as a tragedy in a public statement. He announced that aircraft had been deployed to evacuate the wounded and indicated his intention to visit the scene personally to oversee the response efforts.
The prime minister made these remarks during a visit by Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission. Von der Leyen announced that she would shorten her stay in the country due to the emergency.
Expressing her sorrow, the European Commission president offered her deepest condolences to the families of the victims. She also paid respects to the rescue teams working tirelessly at the site of the disaster.
