Tragedy on “Struma” Highway: Passenger Bus Caught Fire, Leaving at least 46 Dead Including Children

The picture is horrifying, the people on the bus are crowded and charcoal, so no one can say at the moment how many there are. This was said to journalists by the acting Minister of Interior Boyko Rashkov on the occasion of the severe accident with a bus on the Struma Highway, a reporter told FOCUS News Agency.

"The picture is appalling. Not everyone can stand this picture. The tragedy will be clarified in detail in the course of the investigation. It is not for innocent eyes. I would say from my experience that I have never seen such a thing. People are crowded and charcoal inside. That is why no one at the moment can say how many there are and who they are. You have to identify from now on, which is very difficult, and say how many there are.

"There was a possibility that passengers were transferred from one bus to another during the individual stops, because there were several of them," the minister said. "Apart from the investigation, we must concentrate on taking maximum care of those who have survived and are in the Pirogov Hospital. 4 buses traveled. It is very difficult to say exactly how many people are in the crashed bus," Rashkov added.

"Let's leave the versions to the colleagues from the Investigation, they are already working, questioning. We have witnesses. There is a guardrail here, which was taken away by this bus. This means that for some reason he went to the right in the direction of travel and came into contact with the guardrail, which was destroyed. It is possible that this ignition occurred on contact with the guardrail. These are our very original versions. Anything is possible. We heard all sorts of versions, including about the fuel leak. Everything will be clarified, I hope very soon," he said.

"We talked to the mayor of Pernik, and the Road Safety Institute also pays attention to the slopes. It would be very good to investigate this issue as well - whether there are slopes that deviate from the permissible, which is a prerequisite for such road accidents, if they are as frequent as claimed," added Rashkov.

/Focus

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