At least 12 people have been killed and 46 others injured after two major pile-ups involving 86 vehicles on Bulgaria’s Trakia Motorway on Tuesday, November 10, following a sudden deterioration in visibility caused by dense fog.
The collisions occurred near Zimnitsa in the southeastern Yambol region, involving vehicles travelling in opposite directions along the highway connecting the capital, Sofia, to the Black Sea city of Burgas.
According to Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry, 63 vehicles were involved in the first pile-up on the Burgas-bound carriageway, while another 23 were caught up in a separate collision on the opposite side heading towards Sofia.
The first emergency call was received shortly after 7:00am local time, prompting the deployment of police officers, firefighters and ambulance crews to the affected section of the motorway.
Interior Ministry Secretary-General Lyubomir Nikolov said the initial assessment pointed to rapidly forming dense fog, wet road surfaces and driving speeds unsuitable for the prevailing weather conditions.
He explained that visibility initially stood at between 70 and 80 metres before dropping to approximately 10 metres, leaving motorists with little time to react to vehicles ahead.
The first collision reportedly began when a passenger bus and a lorry crashed on the carriageway towards Burgas. Other vehicles subsequently became involved, triggering a chain of collisions that left cars and heavy trucks crushed, overturned and scattered across the road.
A second pile-up occurred on the Sofia-bound carriageway, with authorities suspecting that some motorists were distracted by the initial crash on the opposite side.
The scale of the wreckage complicated rescue operations, forcing emergency teams to remove sections of the motorway’s crash barriers to reach people trapped inside damaged vehicles.
Fifteen fire engines, hundreds of police officers, ambulance crews and military personnel were deployed to assist with the rescue and evacuation efforts.
The operation was further complicated by the poor weather, which prevented a medical helicopter from landing at the scene. Medical personnel were instead transported by police vehicles to assist the injured.
Health Minister Katya Ivkova said 10 victims died at the scene, while two others died while being transported for medical treatment. The injured were taken to hospitals across Yambol, Sliven and Burgas, with additional medical facilities in Sofia, Plovdiv, Haskovo and Stara Zagora placed on standby.
Chief Inspector Todor Mishinev of the Yambol Regional Directorate of the Interior Ministry said rescue operations remained the immediate priority before formal investigative procedures could begin.
“Right now, the priority is rescue operations. Once they are completed, the procedural and investigative actions will be carried out,” he told Nova TV.
The motorway was closed in both directions as emergency teams worked to clear the wreckage and facilitate investigations.
Bulgarian authorities opened two pre-trial investigations because the collisions occurred on opposite carriageways. The National Investigation Service is expected to handle the case, with investigators examining the crash sites, preserving available recordings and interviewing witnesses to establish the circumstances surrounding the disaster.
Prime Minister Rumen Radev also cut short his engagements with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen following the tragedy. Von der Leyen expressed condolences to the victims’ families and acknowledged the emergency teams responding to the disaster.
