At least 46 people, including 12 children, were killed Monday night when a bus carrying citizens of northern Macedonia caught fire and was returning to Skopje after a visit to Istanbul.
Nikolai Nikolov, a Bulgarian Interior Ministry official, said the tragedy, which unfolded at 2am (Greek time and time), on a section of a highway near the village of Bosnek, about 40km south of the capital Sofia, had resulted in casualties. 46 of the 53 passengers died while seven “could be saved” by jumping from the burning bus.
The seven survivors, who were burnt, were rushed to the emergency department of a Sofia hospital, Nikolov told the state-run BNT television network. Their condition is characterized as stable.
At least 12 children were among the victims, Bulgarian news agency BGNES and other Bulgarian media reported.
The causes of the fatal accident remain unknown so far. Mr Nikolov said earlier that it was not yet clear whether the fire caused or was caused by the vehicle in which the vehicle was involved.
The scene of the accident has been cordoned off by the police.
The caretaker Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Stefan Janev, visited the scene.
Most of the victims were citizens of northern Macedonia, a diplomat at the country’s embassy in Sofia told bTV.
The Prime Minister of Northern Macedonia, Zoran Zaef, spoke of a “tragedy”.
“It is a tragedy. “We do not yet know if all the victims are citizens of Northern Macedonia, but we assume that, as the bus had our country’s license plates,” Zaef told Nova television.
.
