BUS CRASH KILLS AT LEAST 45 IN BULGARIA
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, authorities said. DNA tests were being carried out to identify the victims.
The bus apparently ripped through a guardrail on a highway, though authorities said the cause was still under investigation. Photos taken shortly after the crash showed the vehicle engulfed in flames as plumes of thick, black smoke rose. Daylight revealed a burned-out shell with all of its windows blown out, sitting in the median. A portion of the guardrail was lying in the road.
Seven survivors were hospitalized after the crash, which took place as a group of buses was returning from a trip to Turkey. Twelve children were among the dead, according to the North Macedonia chief prosecutor, Ljubomir Joveski.
Bulgarian Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov told reporters at the crash site that he had “never in my life seen something more horrifying” and that the identification process would take time.
“The people who were on the bus are turned to charcoal,” Rashkov said. “There were four buses that traveled together, and it is possible that passengers changed buses during the stops.”
Among the survivors were five North Macedonia citizens, one Serb and one Belgian, according to North Macedonia’s Foreign Ministry. Albanian Foreign Minister Olta Xhacka said almost all of the dead were ethnic Albanians, but it was not clear if they were also citizens of North Macedonia.
Blagoj Bocvarski, North Macedonia’s transport minister, told reporters in the capital of Skopje late Tuesday that officials have started a procedure to revoke the transportation license of the travel company that owns the bus. He said the company has four buses licensed to carry passengers internationally, but for the bus involved in the accident “there was no record in the ministry that it possessed the license.”