Four Men and Four Women Died in Bulgaria Train Fire Tragedy

Society | March 1, 2008, Saturday // 00:00
Bulgaria: Four Men and Four Women Died in Bulgaria Train Fire Tragedy Four men and four women died in the train fire tragedy near the town of Cherven Bryag in western Bulgaria Thursday night. Photo by Posrednik

Four of the dead in the Sofia-Kardam train fire Thursday night are men, and the other four are women.

This was found from the outside inspection of the charred corpses, the head of the Forensic Medicine Service in the city of Pleven Professor Dr. Petko Lisaev announced before the Bulgarian private Darik Radio. He also said the actual autopsies would begin on Sunday.

In his words, the bodies are severely disfigured by the high temperature, and the forensic science methods would not be useful for identifying them.

"We took DNA probes, and we also collected pieces of clothes which could help the relatives to recognize the bodies. The relatives must call us to tell us details about those missing such as their body size, height, previous surgeries and injuries, teeth characteristics so that we can compared them to what we have found", Dr. Lisaev explained.

Lisaev also said that one of the dead persons was very short but it was most likely a young woman rather than a child. The DNA analysis, however, is expected to take several days.

Detelina Nikolova, the Mayor of the city Dobrich in northeast Bulgaria where the burned train was destined to, announced that six persons from the city and the region were missing.

Vasil Vichev from Dobrich, the father of the 25-year old Daniel Vichev, who is reported missing, blamed the incident on the state institutions.

The university student from Dobrich Stanimir Angelov retold the words of a girl he helped get out of the burning train. According to Angelov, the girl told him she was woken up by a bursting light bulb, which set the window curtain on fire.

Angelov also said the people in the carriage tried the both doors but they were locked and could not be opened.

The fire brigade arrived at the place in 30 minutes, and the two fire cars spent their water in three minutes, according to witnesses. Angelov and his friend remember a man about 50 years of age whom they never saw after they got out of the train.

Among the missing persons are two female university students from Dobrich - 20- and 22-years old respectively, and a 50-year old woman, who is a doctor from the border town of General Toshevo, Dobrich District.

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