Daily US Times: At least 45 people, including 12 children, have died after a bus crashed and caught fire in western Bulgaria, officials say.
The incident happened on a motorway at about 02:00 local time (00:00 GMT) near the village of Bosnek, south-west of the capital Sofia.
The bus was reportedly registered to North Macedonia and was mainly carrying passengers from that country.
The cause of the crash and fire is being investigated.
A Bulgarian interior ministry official said it was unclear if the bus had caught fire and then crashed or burst into flames after crashing.
Officials said the vehicle appeared to have hit a highway barrier either before or after catching fire.
Seven people with burns were taken to hospital in Sofia.
Interim Prime Minister of Bulgaria Stefan Yanev described the incident as “a huge tragedy”.
“Let’s hope we learn lessons from this tragic incident and we can prevent such incidents in the future,” he told reporters as he visited the site of the crash.
Macedonian Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani said the coach party was returning to the capital Skopje from a weekend holiday trip to the Turkish city of Istanbul, according to Reuters news agency.
The area around the site of Tuesday’s incident on the Struma motorway has now been sealed off. Footage from the scene showed the charred vehicle, gutted by the fire.
After arriving at the scene, Bulgarian Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov said victims’ bodies were “completely burnt out”, BTV reports.
North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev has already contacted his Bulgarian counterpart to discuss the incident.
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