Dense fog turned a busy Bulgarian motorway into a scene of devastation on Tuesday morning, when two chain-reaction pile-ups involving about 50 vehicles left at least 12 people dead and dozens more injured.
The crashes happened on opposite carriageways of the Trakia Motorway, the A1 road linking the capital Sofia with the eastern city of Burgas, near the Zimnitsa junction outside Yambol in south-eastern Bulgaria. One pile-up struck near kilometre 289 on the carriageway heading towards Burgas, and the second near kilometre 294 in the direction of Sofia. The first emergency call came in at about 7:10 in the morning, local time.
The death toll rose through the day as rescue teams worked through the wreckage. Early reports, citing the regional governor, put the number of dead at 10. Prime Minister Rumen Radev later said 11 people had died, and Health Minister Katya Ivkova then put the figure at 12, saying 10 people had died at the scene and two more had died while being taken to hospital. Around 50 people were hurt, according to the interior ministry, while the health minister said 46 people had been taken to medical facilities, many of them with multiple injuries, including severely broken limbs. Local media reported that several of the injured were in a serious condition.
Fog blamed as rescuers cut trapped drivers free
Officials said dense fog was the likely cause of the disaster. Lyubomir Nikolov, general secretary of the interior ministry, told reporters at the scene that the chain of collisions appeared to have started with a crash between a bus and a truck on the Burgas-bound side of the motorway. A regional road official also pointed to the wet road surface and driving speeds that did not match the conditions.
Chief Inspector Todor Mishinev, from the Yambol regional police, told local television that some people were still trapped inside their vehicles hours after the crashes. He said rescue work came first, and that the formal investigation would follow once everyone had been freed. Images from local media showed cars and trucks piled up across six lanes of highway, many of them crushed, overturned or forced off the road.
Prime Minister Radev described the accident as a tragedy and said government aircraft had been sent to help move the injured to hospital. He said he planned to visit the scene. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who was visiting Bulgaria when the crash happened, said she would cut her trip short. She offered her condolences and paid tribute to the rescue teams working at the site.
The motorway was closed in both directions between the Zimnitsa and Kabile junctions, with traffic diverted onto other roads. Bulgaria’s Road Infrastructure Agency said the closure would last for some time because of the heavy vehicles involved and the investigation that must follow. Police said the identities of the victims had not yet been released.
The crash has thrown a fresh spotlight on road safety in Bulgaria, where motorways are ranked among the most dangerous in the European Union. In 2025, the country recorded 71 road deaths per million inhabitants, the highest rate in the EU, according to figures from the European Commission.
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