At least 45 people have died, including several children, when a bus caught fire on a highway in western Bulgaria, near the city of Bosnek, as reported by the Ministry of the Interior quoted by the Bulgarian agency BTA.
The bus fire, for reasons that are unknown until now, occurred around 2 a.m. this Tuesday on the highway that connects Turkey with North Macedonia. According to the sources, only seven people have survived the fire.
The causes of the accident and the fire are being investigated, but the first reports of the local police indicate that may have hit a curb or railing. Preliminary reports point to seven people were taken to hospital with burns.
On the other hand, the official BNT agency ensures that the damaged bus carried 52 passengers, 12 of them children and confirms that only seven people have survived in good condition and are not in danger of death. The youngest patient is 17 years old.
The group riding the bus was returning to the capital, Skopje, from a weekend vacation trip to the Turkish city of Istanbul. According to BNT, in total they were four buses of a tourist company from the Republic of North Macedonia those who traveled together and entered the country through the Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint, after traveling from Istanbul.
Shortly before the tragic accident, the buses stopped to rest at a gas station. The area around where the accident occurred on the so-called Struma Highway has been closed by authorities.
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