Reply To: Car accidents in Bulgaria

[Красимир Ганчев]

Serbian bus with children crashes on Trakia

The accident happened between 217 and 218 km in the direction of Sofia
A bus with Serbian registration, carrying children, crashed on AM “Trakia”. 17 children were injured. The accident happened between 217 and 218 km in the direction of Sofia. The bus has turned on its side in the ditch, with tens of meters of the wet banquette dug up.

The children are from the town of Batajnica, near Belgrade, and were returning to their homeland after a holiday on our Black Sea coast. A witness said that they were returning from a festival in “Sunny Beach”, and shortly before the accident they stopped for a rest.

The Deputy Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Stanimir Stanev, told NOVA that he could not yet comment on the causes of the cruel accident. It is only clear that the pavement was wet.

Ambulances, five teams of the fire department and five teams of the Ministry of Internal Affairs arrived at the scene. Many of the passing cars stopped and dozens of people came to the aid of the injured. All of them have been taken to the University Hospital in Stara Zagora, the director of the medical facility, Prof. Yovcho Yovchev, confirmed for NOVA. According to his information, 17 children are housed there, the youngest hospitalized is 6 years old, and the oldest is 17. Four of the admitted children have been sent for a scan. One of the elderly injured has a serious leg injury and will likely require amputation.

A witness to what happened, who also helped the passengers on the bus, told NOVA that all those on the ambulances were conscious. There was a child and two adults, who, however, were in a visibly worse condition.

“I don’t wish anyone to see such a sight – crying children covered in blood,” said Theodore. And he added that he heard one of the leaders of the children’s group say that 48 people were traveling on the bus. The woman also said that there were no cars that prevented the bus from moving and that it overturned in the ditch by itself.

On the order of the chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev, a team of investigators from the National Investigation Service went to the scene of the road accident near Stara Zagora to begin investigative actions this very night.

Road safety expert Diana Rusinova also arrived at the scene. “There are strict rules on where a road barrier system is placed, and despite everything, the EU encourages the installation of resilient fences on the right-hand side as well to prevent such incidents,” she said.

“Once again, we are witnessing an accident involving a bus and one body that is absent, resting on Sunday – “Automotive Administration”. If the bus crashed in the daylight, around 8 p.m., it cannot reach the border in the daylight, and it is absolutely forbidden to transport children in the dark. The lack of control of these circumstances lead to what we see,” she added.

According to her, there is a possibility that the driver fell asleep behind the wheel or felt sick.