Fog, Gantries and Ministers: 12 Dead on Trakia Motorway

Twelve people died on Tuesday morning on the Trakia motorway near Yambol, in southeastern Bulgaria, after dozens of cars and lorries piled into each other in thick fog. Prime Minister Rumen Radev gave the figure himself. The first reports reached the authorities at 07:10 local time. By the time the wreckage was being cleared, rescue crews had cut through sections of the crash barrier just to reach the people inside.

The numbers differ depending on who's talking. Health Minister Katya Ivkova said 11 died at the scene near Zimnitsa, with another dying later in hospital. In another account she said 10 died on the spot and two more on the way to hospital. A health ministry statement said 51 people were admitted to hospitals in nearby cities, 13 of them critically injured. Yambol regional governor Georgi Chalakov told the state news agency BTA that around 50 vehicles were involved. His Sliven counterpart, Mihail Kasherov, put it at more than 70. Another report said 86. Nobody in an official chair could agree on how many vehicles had been smashed together. The identities of the dead hadn't been announced.

The Fog Defence

The Interior Ministry's explanation arrived fast: heavy fog. Ministry general secretary Lyubomir Nikolov told reporters at the site that fog was the likely cause. Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev blamed a sudden change in weather. Visibility, he said, was around 70-80 metres before the incident and dropped to about 10 metres within a short period. The second crash, on the Sofia-bound carriageway, was put down to fog plus drivers distracted by the first one.

Then came the promise. "We are actively working on equipping the toll system gantries with display screens to warn drivers," Demerdzhiev said. The gantries are there to charge people. The warning screens are still being worked on. Road administration director Galin Kostov added that speeds were unsuitable for the conditions, which included wet road surfaces.

Bogdan Milchev, chairman of the Road Safety Institute NGO, told public radio BNR that the motorway section should have been closed early Tuesday, and he blamed the government. The helicopters couldn't fly in the fog, Chalakov said, so everything went by road. Chief Inspector Todor Mishinev of the Yambol Regional Directorate told Nova TV that people were still trapped in their cars as he spoke.

Who Gets Crushed

The EU's own figures put Bulgaria's roads at the top of a grim league table: 71 road deaths per million inhabitants in 2025, the highest rate in the bloc, against an EU average of 43. In 2019 the EU introduced a target to halve road deaths and serious injuries by 2030. A European Commission report in October said just five of the 27 member states, Bulgaria among them, were on track to meet it. Victims blame reckless driving, poorly maintained roads and an inefficient justice system. Experts note that Bulgaria is the EU's poorest member state, a gateway for busy traffic into the bloc, with around half of its registered cars more than 20 years old.

Those who survived told Reuters what it looked like from the tarmac. One witness pulled a man out of a burning vehicle. "I got out of the car, I ran forward and pulled that man out," he said. Another said "many, many people died." He had four trucks behind him and said: "I don't know how I got out or what happened, but in the end, thank God I'm still alive." Strangers on the road did the first rescue work while the apparatus was still assembling.

The Ceremony Machine

Radev had been hosting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen when the news came. He cut the joint news conference short, visited the scene, and cancelled his engagements in Varna. The Council of Ministers meeting was cancelled. Von der Leyen said she would cut her visit short. Two government aircraft with stretchers and medical teams were dispatched, along with Spartan military transport planes. Radev declared Wednesday a day of national mourning.

The condolences followed on schedule. European Council chief Antonio Costa said on X he was "deeply saddened." European Parliament President Roberta Metsola wrote of her "sincere condolences" and her gratitude to the rescue services. Romanian Foreign Minister Dan Neculaescu said one Romanian was among the injured. Bulgaria's parliament adopted stricter penalties in 2023 for driving under the influence of drugs, with accused drivers' cars impounded until trial. Fog doesn't drive under the influence. Bulgaria recorded 456 road deaths in 2025. Today's crash added 12 in a single morning.