Overview
- Emergency crews responded to two near-simultaneous multi-vehicle pile-ups near the Zimnitsa junction outside Yambol, closing the Trakia A1 in both directions while firefighters, police and ambulance teams cut people from wreckage.
- Prime Minister Rumen Radev and multiple agencies put the toll at 11 dead and about 48 injured, though Health Minister Katya Ivkova gave a different count of 12, and officials say casualty figures are still being reconciled.
- Authorities say the sequence began when a bus struck a truck in dense fog, creating chain-reaction collisions that involved an estimated 50 vehicles with some reports of more than 70 and several cars catching fire.
- The government deployed two aircraft with stretchers and medical teams to fly the seriously injured to Sofia and regional hospitals in Yambol, Sliven and Burgas while rescue work remained the priority before formal investigations.
- The crash highlights Bulgaria's longstanding road-safety problems, with the country recording one of the highest road-fatality rates in the EU and officials pointing to poor visibility, speeding for conditions, older vehicles and heavy transit traffic as contributing factors.