On the Bulgarian highway "Struma" near Sofia, 45 people died as a result of a road accident and the subsequent fire of the bus.
There were 52 people in the bus, mostly tourists from North Macedonia. Among the dead are 12 minors, as well as the bus driver. Seven passengers managed to survive, they are under medical supervision.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine is investigating whether Ukrainians were among the dead and injured as a result of the bus accident.
The accident happened around 3:00 am.
"On the 31st kilometer of the highway, there was an accident with a bus carrying 52 people, which caused a fire. 45 people died. The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs supervises the situation on the spot. Operational and investigative measures are ongoing, but the fire occurred as a result of an accident. The rest of the victims were taken to the hospital, their condition is not serious," Nikolay Nikolov, head of the fire department, told reporters.
The Prime Minister of North Macedonia expressed his condolences over the incident. Now traffic on the highway is temporarily restricted.
According to the mayor of the Bulgarian city of Pernik, the exact cause of the accident is not yet known, several versions are being considered.
"There may be many reasons for the accident, perhaps the driver was asleep, there may be another reason. It has been raining since yesterday, the section is straight with a slope," said Stanislav Vladimirov.
In the specified area, drivers often exceed the speed, which leads to a large number of road accidents.
Diana Rusynova, a road expert from Bulgaria, said that there were many problems on the section of the highway, last summer they patched potholes there.
