Bus blaze tragedy: At least 46 people including children killed

Bus blaze tragedy: At least 46 people including children have been killed in Bulgaria.

The bus blaze happened at 2am local time near the Bulgarian village of Bosnek. Nikolai Nikolov a ministry official from Bulgaria confirmed that the blaze had claimed the lives of 12 children.

He explained that the: “bus caught fire and crashed, or crashed and then caught fire.” The bus had been heading along the Struma Highway in Bulgaria.

Firefighters and emergency crews rushed to the scene of the incident which so far has claimed at least 46 lives. An investigation into the incident is in progress.

According to reports, seven people were able to jump free from the bus which had 52 people on board. The people were taken to hospital suffering from burn injuries. North Macedonian Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani confirmed that the bus had been returning from a holiday trip to Istanbul.

Bulgarian Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov said that the bodies on the bus were “completely burnt out.” He went on to add: “It’s a terrifying picture in there. I haven’t seen anything like that before.”

Stanimir Stanev, Bulgaria’s national police chief revealed: “Of the victims … 12 in total were under the age of 18.

“Initial information shows that 52 people were travelling in the bus, including two drivers with Macedonian nationality and 50 passengers with Albanian nationality.”

Bulgaria’s interim PM Stefan Yanev has expressed his condolences. He commented: “I take this opportunity to send my condolences to the relatives of the victims.

“Let’s hope we learn lessons from this tragic incident and we can prevent such incidents in the future.”

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