Bus crash death toll stands at 45

A BUS carrying tourists home to North Macedonia from Istanbul has crashed and caught fire in western Bulgaria, killing at least 45 people, authorities said.

Seven people were taken to hospital for treatment after the accident happened at around 2am yesterday.

North Macedonia’s chief prosecutor, Lubomir Jovevski, who visited the scene of the accident, said 12 children were confirmed among the dead.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known, but it appeared that the bus – one of four travelling together – hit a highway barrier, crashed and caught fire.

Photos taken shortly after the crash showed the bus engulfed in flames with plumes of thick black smoke rising from the scene.

Daylight revealed the burned-out bus, its windows all broken, charred and gutted, sitting upright against the central reservation.

Interior minister Boyko Rashkov told reporters at the crash site he had “never in my life seen something more horrifying”.

“It is impossible to say how many they were.

“There were four buses that travelled together, and it is possible that passengers changed buses during the stops.”

Media in North Macedonia, a country of about two million people, reported that police were outside the Skopje offices of a travel company that is believed to have organised the trip to Turkey.

Bulgarian caretaker prime minister Stefan Yanev, who also visited the site of the crash, told reporters it was “a huge tragedy”.

“I take this opportunity to send my condolences to the relatives of the victims,” he said.

Albanian foreign minister Olta Xhacka wrote online that almost all of those who died in the crash were ethnic Albanians.

Firefighters and forensic workers inspect the scene on a highway near the village of Bosnek, western Bulgaria.