Photo: NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV/AFP via Getty Images
A bus traveling on a highway in western Bulgaria crashed and caught fire on Tuesday, killing at least 45 people, according to local officials.
The bus was carrying about 52 passengers when it crashed through the guardrail and caught fire around 3 a.m. local time on the Struma highway, according to theBulgarian National Television(BNT). The passengers were reportedly tourists from North Macedonia visiting Istanbul and traveling with three other buses.
NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV/AFP via Getty Images
Boyko Rashkov, the Bulgarian interior minister, described the scene as “horrifying,” adding that the victims could not yet be identified. “I haven’t seen anything like this before,” he said, according toThe New York Times.
“It is a terrible tragedy because many of them are children,” echoed Prime Minister Zoran Zaev of North Macedonia said, per the outlet, noting that he was able to speak to one of the survivors. “He explained that they were sleeping on the bus when a loud explosion was heard.”
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The cause of the accident is currently under investigation.
“I want to express my condolences to the relatives and families of the victims and I want to thank my colleagues from the Bulgarian prosecutor’s office for their joint work,” Ljubomir Joveski, Chief Prosecutor of the Republic of North Macedonia, told BNT.
Citing the Bulgarian interior ministry,Reutersreports that the Struma crash is the deadliest bus accident in national history.
source: people.com
