Bulgaria's EU Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, Kristalina Georgieva. Photo by BGNES
Bulgaria's EU Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva has become the first Bulgarian politician to react to the terrorist attack against Israeli tourists in the Black Sea city of Burgas.
"I am shocked and saddened by the news about the explosion in Burgas in which there are casualties. I am following news the news constantly," EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Georgieva said in a Twitter post.
Shortly before that the Bulgarian Presidency announced that Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev had departed for the Burgas Airport where a number of Israeli tourists were killed and wounded in what appears to be a terrorist attack.
The blast at Bulgaria's Burgas Airport Wednesday night, in which a number of Israeli tourists are reported to have been killed or wounded, is a terrorist attack, according to the Bulgarian police.
Between 3 and 5 Israeli tourists are reported dead and some 18-20 are reported wounded in the explosion which hit their bus at the Sarafovo Airport near Bulgaria's Black Sea city of Burgas at about 5:30 pm EET.
The Bulgarian authorities have confirmed there are casualties have not confirmed their number.
The site of the Burgas Airport says the Israeli tourists arrived on a flight of Air Via from Tel Aviv at 4:50 pm. After that, they got on a bus to reach Bulgaria's largest Black Sea resort Sunny Beach.
According to reports, there were about 40 Israeli tourists on the bus. A total of three buses caught fire on the Burgas Airport parking lot, a local news site, Burgas 24 says.