Eleven people killed and around 50 injured in multi-vehicle pile-ups on Bulgaria’s Trakia Motorway near Yambol amid dense fog, Prime Minister Radev says

Eleven people died and around 50 were injured in two multi-vehicle pile-ups on a foggy stretch of motorway in eastern Bulgaria on Tuesday, Prime Minister Rumen Radev said.

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The crashes closed both carriageways of the Trakia Motorway (A1), which links Sofia with the Black Sea city of Burgas, near the Zimnitsa junction in the Yambol region.

Police, firefighters and ambulance crews rushed to the scene after the first emergency call at about 7:10 am local time.

Images showed cars and trucks piled across six lanes, many crushed, overturned or veered off the road.

Fifty injured people were transported to hospital, according to the interior ministry.

Radev described the accident as a “tragedy” while hosting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

He said he had deployed aircraft to evacuate the wounded and planned to visit the scene.

Von der Leyen cut her visit short, saying she wished to express her deepest condolences and pay respects to the rescue teams.

Lyubomir Nikolov, General Secretary of the Interior Ministry, said fog was the likely cause.

The sequence began with a lorry blocking a passenger bus on the Burgas-bound carriageway, followed by further collisions involving another lorry and a car.

A second pile-up occurred on the Sofia-bound side, possibly as drivers were distracted by the nearby wreckage.

Health Minister Katya Ivkova confirmed ten deaths at the scene and one in hospital, with the toll potentially rising as crews cleared wreckage.

More than 70 vehicles, and in some accounts up to 86, were involved.

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The motorway remained closed in both directions for a prolonged period while recovery and investigation continued, with traffic diverted onto alternative routes.