At least 46 people, including 12 children, died on Monday night, when a bus carrying citizens of North Macedonia caught fire. The bus was returning to Skopje after a visit to Istanbul.
Nikolai Nikolov, an official at Bulgaria's Interior Ministry, said the tragedy, which unfolded at 02:00 (local and Greek time) on a section of motorway near the village of Bosnec, some 40 kilometres south of the capital Sofia, resulted in the deaths of 46 of the 53 people on board, while seven «managed to save themselves» by jumping from the burning bus.
The seven survivors, who were burned, were rushed and admitted to the emergency department of a Sofia hospital, Mr. Nikolov, who made statements to the BNT public television network, explained. Their condition is described as stable.
Among the victims are at least 12 children, the 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 is not yet clear whether the fire was caused by the accident involving the vehicle, or whether it was caused by it.
The scene of the accident has been cordoned off by the police.
Bulgaria's caretaker Prime Minister Stefan Yanev visited the site.
Most of the victims were citizens of North Macedonia, a diplomat from the country's embassy in Sofia told bTV.
The Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Zoran Zaev called it a «tragedy».
«This is a tragedy. We don't know yet if all the victims are citizens of North Macedonia, but we assume so, as the bus had our country's license plates,» Zaev told the Nova TV network.
