The country’s prime minister traveled to Bulgaria, as did its chief prosecutor, who visited the crash site.Īzem Sadiki, mayor of Studenicani municipality near Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia, told reporters Tuesday that 20 of the crash victims were local residents. Flags will be lowered to half-staff, and all public events will be canceled. The North Macedonia government observed a minute of silence Tuesday and declared three days of mourning. News of the crash hit hard in the small country of 2 million people. Albanian Foreign Minister Olta Xhacka wrote that almost all of the dead were ethnic Albanians, but it was not clear if they were also citizens of North Macedonia. “There were four buses that traveled together, and it is possible that passengers changed buses during the stops.”īorislav Sarafov, chief of Bulgaria’s national investigation service, confirmed that 52 people were on the bus.Īmong the survivors, five are North Macedonia citizens, one Serb and one Belgian, according to the North Macedonia Foreign Ministry. “The people who were on the bus are turned to charcoal,” Rashkov said. Twelve children were confirmed among the dead, according to the North Macedonia chief prosecutor, Ljubomir Joveski.īulgarian Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov told reporters at the crash site that he had “never in my life seen something more horrifying.” Seven survivors were taken to hospitals after the crash, which happened as a group of buses was returning from a trip to Turkey. A portion of the guardrail was peeled away and lying in the road.
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Daylight revealed a burned-out shell with all of its windows blown out, sitting in the median. Photos taken shortly after the crash showed the vehicle engulfed in flames as plumes of thick, black smoke rose.
The bus apparently ripped through a guardrail on a highway, though authorities said the cause was still under investigation. DNA tests are being carried out to identify the victims. SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) - A bus carrying tourists back to North Macedonia crashed and caught fire in western Bulgaria early Tuesday, killing at least 45 people, including a dozen children, authorities said. By VESELIN TOSHKOV and STEPHEN McGRATH Associated Press
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