​At least 11 people died and 48 others were injured on Tuesday morning after two massive vehicle pileups occurred in dense fog on the Trakia motorway in southeastern Bulgaria.
​The disaster unfolded around 7:10 AM local time along the Trakia motorway near Yambol, a critical transit corridor connecting Bulgaria’s capital city, Sofia, to the Black Sea port city of Burgas. Extremely thick fog drastically reduced visibility to as little as 30 meters, triggering chain-reaction collisions on both sides of the highway.
​An estimated 50 vehicles, including personal cars, commercial vans, heavy lorries, and freight trucks, were caught in the dual pileups. Emergency responders faced scenes of intense destruction, with crushed vehicles stacked together across lanes and several burnt-out wrecks lining the road shoulder.
​Bulgaria’s Prime Minister confirmed the casualty numbers during a press briefing later on Tuesday.
​”The toll at this point is 11 dead and 48 injured,” declared Prime Minister Rumen Radev to reporters.
​The Prime Minister canceled his remaining official engagements for Nov. 10, which included scheduled meetings with visiting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
​Yambol Regional Governor Georgi Chalakov confirmed the extent of the tragedy to the state-run BTA news agency, noting that emergency crews, firefighters, and medical personnel were deployed immediately.
Authorities dispatched two specialized aircraft equipped with stretchers and medical units to aid in transporting critical patients. Victims were rushed to regional facilities, primarily nearby medical centers in Yambol and Sliven.
​The incident highlights lingering concerns over road safety in the Balkan nation. Bulgaria recorded 71 road fatalities per million inhabitants, maintaining the highest traffic mortality rate in the European Union according to European Commission data.
Local transport advocates continue to point toward poorly maintained infrastructure, challenging weather vulnerabilities, and enforcement gaps as contributing factors to the high frequency of highway fatalities.
