Sofia, November 23 (BTA) - A bus crashed and caught fire on Strouma motorway near Sofia shortly after 2:00 am on Tuesday, killing at least 45 people. The bus was returning to Skopje from a tourist trip to Istanbul. Тhe passengers are citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia, including one with Belgian citizenship. Seven survivors have been taken to Sofia's Pirogov emergency hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The tragedy comes on top of a deadly fire in a nursing home in eastern Bulgaria on Monday evening which killed nine people.

Caretaker Prime Minister Stefan Yanev and Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov were at the crash scene. The Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of North Macedonia, Zoran Zaev and Bujar Osmani, are already in Bulgaria. North Macedonia's Health Minister Venko Filipce also arrived in Sofia.

The two prime ministers held a joint news conference to provide details and offer condolences. Stefan Yanev said that the two countries' authorities have maintained constant coordination since the early hours of Tuesday, while Zaev thanked the Bulgarian authorites for their prompt response and exchange of information.

Zoran Zaev said that the two countries' peoples are the closest of neighbours and stand side by side in good and in bad times. He expressed condolences to the families of the bus accident victims, as well as those who perished in the nursing home fire in northeastern Bulgaria Monday evening.

It transpired from the joint news briefing, given by Yanev and Zaev, that the two governments are considering declaring a national day of mourning over the tragic accident.

Yanev urged the media to maintain a balance between the public interst and the huge tragedy for the victims' families. He expressed condolences to the friends and families of those who died.

Caretaker Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov told journalists that three buses were travelling together and the one that crashed was last. It's possible that passengers have moved from one bus to another during a rest stop prior to the crash, he said.

The bus apparently caught fire after crashing into the guard rail on the motorway near the western village of Bosnek. The identity of the victims will be established by DNA tests because the bodies are burnt beyond recognition.

According to the Interior Minister, the friction between the bus and the guard rail could have caused the fire, but the details will be cleared out over the course of the investigation.

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev told the press that the people on the bus were from Skopje and other parts of the country. The survivors managed to break a window and escaped through it. The bus was on a tourist trip from Skopje to Istanbul and back.

National Investigation Service (NIS) chief Borislav Sarafov said there were a total of 52 passengers on the bus, including 12 children. The bus driver is among the victims. Sarafov told BTA that he will meet with North Macedonia's chief prosecutor Ljubomir Joveski at the crash site.

The survivors of the crash are being questioned, the prosecuting magistracy said. The accident scene is being examined and the investigation will be supervised by the Supreme Prosecution Office of Cassation and the Sofia Appellate Prosecuion Office.

The Bulgarian prosecuting magistracy sent condolences to Joveski and said it will make every effort to establish the causes for the serious accident.

A BTA reporter saw that the bus was completely burned. The bus appears to have first crashed into the guard rail on the right side, careened into the guard rail dividing the motorway and came to a stop there.

Debris is scattered near the site of the initial impact. No skid marks can be seen.

Yanev said that there is already information about all questions related to the crash, but it is part of the ongoing investigation and speaking too early could interfere with the authorities' efforts to establish the causes.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Svetlan Stoev talked to his counterpart from North Macedonia Osmani, Stoev's Ministry reported. Stoev has expressed condolences to the victims' families. He assured Osmani that Bulgaria will do its best in investigating the accident and treating the injured.

At the Pirogov Hospital early in the morning, Osmani told reporters that as far as he knows, the travel agency that arranged the bus trip was based in Skopje and over ten children were among the victims.

Stefan Yanev was also at the hospital, where the seven injured passengers are treated, the Government information service reported. He was informed that the patients are conscious and in stable condition. He spoke to them and expressed condolences over the horrible accident and wished them a speedy recovery.

Six of the patients have suffered burns and one is with a leg injury. They have been examined and admited to the hospital's burns unit.

President Rumen Radev expressed condolences to North Macedonia's President Stevo Pendarovski over the tragic bus accident, Radev's Press Secretariat reported.

In his and the Bulgarian people's name, Radev expresses most sincere condolences to the families and friends of the citizens of North Macedonia who died in the crash, as well as hope for speedy recovery of those injured.

In this difficult time, Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia share common grief, solidarity and sympathy. The dozens of lives lost are an irreconcilableloss for our brotherly nations, the Bulgarian President's position reads.

Radev calls on the responsible institutions to establish the causes that lead to the serious road accident, as well as to provide timely support to the crash survivors.

Later on Tuesday, Radev conferred with Prime Minister Zaev. Their joint position is that Bulgaria and North Macedonia stand together in their grief about the victims of the tragic bus accident, the Bulgarian President's Press Secretariat reported. Radev has expressed condolences to Zaev over the dozens of lost lives in the bus crash, while Zaev did the same over the recent tragic nursing home fire in Bulgaria.

Bulgaria has taken prompt actions to establish the causes of the bus accident, to identifiy the victims and provide medial treatment to the injured. This country also relies on support from the institutions in North Macedonia and is ready to provide them with all the information concerning the case, it was underscored during the meeting.

Condolences were also offered by Vice President Iliana Iotova, Continue the Change, Socialist party leader Kornelia Ninova, Vazrazhdane party leader Kostadin Kostadinov, VMRO leader Krassimir Karakachanov and Movement for Rights and Freedoms leader Mustafa Karadayi. GERB leader and former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov spoke to Prime Minister Zoran Zaev over the phone to express his sympathy. The US Embassy in Sofia also expressed condolences over the tragic bus crash and the nursing home fire, which happened within hours.

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The accident and its causes were commented on by a local mayor, the formerly ruling GERB party and road safety experts.

The Mayor of the nearby city of Pernik, Stanislav Vladimirov, said that a 50-metre section of the guard rail has been destroyed by the bus. The motorway section is one of the most difficult ones in Bulgaria and many accidents happen there. The road was wet and at an incline, he explained.

Dessislava Atanassova of GERB said at a news conference later on Tuesday that all attempts at making political insinuations that the accident was caused by the condition of the motorway's pavement, made by Pernik's Mayor and caretaker ministers, are wrong. GERB insists on a transparent investigation of the accident, urging President Rumen Radev to demand ministerial resignations.

Head of the European Centre for Transport Policies Diana Russinova told BTA that the bus accident could have been prevented if the institutions had done their job and not neglected their responsibilities. The road safety expert said that the non-government sector will once again demand resignations of the heads of the responsible instituions. She said that she has warned and submitted alerts numerous times about the condition of this particular section of the motorway. "About the road markings, the poor condition of the asphalt, the poorly installed safety systems, missing road signs and much more," she added.

Head of the Road Safety Institute Bogdan Milchev told BTA that an international road safety audit must be carried out immediately. There's a need for risk assessment, structural and staff changes at the Road Safety State Agency, as well as legislative amendments. This is indicative that such serious accidents happen in Bulgaria periodically, he said, recalling another bus accident near the western town of Svoge in 2018, from which nothing has been learned, in his words. The road safety expert said that conclusions about the cause of the accident should not be drawn too fast. There are the possibilities of human error, road condition, technical malfunction and even the driver's health, he said. KK/MY/LN/