Bulgaria highway pileup, Digi Mart USA News (Yambol, Bulgaria): Eleven people were killed and dozens more were injured Tuesday morning in a chain-reaction collision involving about fifty vehicles on a highway in southeastern Bulgaria. The Ministry of Health first reported 12 deaths before confirming the toll at eleven.
The Ministry said 51 other people were injured, 13 of them in critical condition. The crash occurred near Yambol on the highway linking the capital, Sofia, with the Black Sea city of Burgas, as thick fog reduced visibility.
Regional governor Georgi Chalakov told the news agency BTA that about fifty cars and trucks were involved in the chain collision. Images broadcast by Bulgarian media showed overturned, burned and crushed vehicles on both sides of the road.
Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said the main factor was a sudden change in weather conditions. He said visibility was about 70 to 80 meters just before the crash but dropped to roughly 10 meters within a very short time.
He added that authorities were working to equip toll gantries with display boards to warn drivers.
The Institute for Road Safety, a nongovernmental organization, criticized the government, stating that toll cameras recorded very dense fog on this stretch of the Trakia highway two hours before the accident, at 5:00 a.m. Its president, Bogdan Milchev, said the highway should have been closed on this section from 5:00 a.m.
The government dispatched two aircraft equipped with stretchers and medical teams, and officials went to the scene. Prime Minister Roumen Radev canceled his engagements scheduled for the end of the day.
President Iliana Iotova returned urgently from Paris, where she had been attending the Paris Peace Forum. A national day of mourning was declared for Wednesday.
The tragedy highlights persistent road safety problems in Bulgaria. According to 2025 figures recently published by the European Commission, Bulgaria has the highest road fatality rate in the EU, with 71 deaths per million inhabitants, compared with 19 in Sweden.
A total of 456 people died on Bulgarian roads last year, down 5 percent from the previous year and 27 percent from 2019.
Bulgaria’s geographic position as an EU entry point with heavy truck traffic, along with poverty, contributes to serious accidents, according to the report. Nearly half of the cars were more than 20 years old two years ago, and roads are sometimes in very poor condition.
European Council President Antonio Costa said he was “deeply saddened” by the “tragic” accident on X. Romanian President Nicusor Dan also sent condolences to the victims’ families.
A Romanian citizen was among the injured, and Dan wished them a speedy recovery.
