Fog-bound pile-ups involving 86 vehicles kill at least 11 people on Bulgaria’s Trakia motorway, ministries say

Two chains of crashes in thick fog closed Bulgaria’s Trakia motorway near Yambol on Tuesday morning, Nov. 10, killing at least 11 people, according to the Bulgarian health ministry. The ministry’s 11:30 a.m. local update says 10 people died at the scene and one died in a hospital in Yambol, and that the final toll will only come clear once rescuers finish cutting apart and clearing vehicles piled on top of one another. Yambol regional governor Georgi Chalakov said the first report came in at 7:10 a.m. local time (9:10 p.m. PT on Monday), BTA, the state news agency, reports.

The crashes happened on opposite sides of the motorway, which links Sofia with the Black Sea city of Burgas, at kilometre 289 on the Burgas-bound carriageway and kilometre 294 on the Sofia-bound side, according to BTA. Nikolov, the acting chief secretary of the interior ministry, said the first pile-up began when a lorry blocked the path of a passenger bus, followed by a collision involving a lorry carrying wheat, BTA reports. “We believe the crash on the Sofia-bound carriageway happened in the same way. Drivers were probably distracted by the nearby collision, which would explain why both crashes happened in the same area,” Nikolov said, according to BTA’s English translation.

Survivors described the impact to Bulgarian broadcaster Nova, Euronews reports. A woman who had travelled on the bus told Nova that grain poured in through the shattered windows: “The real horror was inside the bus. Grain was falling on us from above, through the windows,” she said, according to Euronews, which also cites one eyewitness, via the Novinite news site, putting visibility at about 30 metres. Todor Mishinev, a chief inspector at the Yambol regional police directorate, told Nova TV that some people remained trapped in their cars, Reuters reports: “Right now, the priority is rescue operations. Once they are completed, the procedural and investigative actions will be carried out.”

The casualty figures shifted through the day. Radev told reporters, “The toll at this point is 11 dead and 48 injured,” Euronews reports, while Radio Bulgaria quotes him at a press conference as giving 11 dead and 49 injured. Health Minister Katya Ivkova told journalists at a Sliven hospital that 10 people died at the scene and two more in hospitals, one in Yambol and one in Sliven, according to BTA and Fakti.bg; AP and DW report a toll of at least 12 on that basis. The ministry’s own written updates, including a later notice opening a hotline for relatives, list 11 dead and 46 people in hospital, and BTA’s updated main report uses the figure of 11.

Counts of the vehicles involved also grew. Chalakov first estimated about 50 cars and lorries, DW reports; Sliven regional governor Mihail Kasherov put the number at more than 70 and said he had never seen anything like the scene, according to BTA. The interior ministry later gave a total of 86, with 63 on the Burgas-bound side and 23 on the Sofia-bound side, BTA and the Bulgarian daily Bulgaria Dnes report. Galin Kostov, head of the regional road administration, also cited the wet road surface and speeds unsuitable for the conditions, BTA reports.

Hospitals in Sliven, Yambol and Burgas took the injured, and the health ministry says hospitals in Stara Zagora, Plovdiv, Haskovo and Sofia stayed on standby. A medical helicopter took off from Sliven but could not land in the fog, so police cars carried its crew to the scene, the ministry says. Radev sent the government aircraft to Burgas, and Spartan military transport planes stood ready to fly casualties to Sofia, according to BTA. “We are ready to save as many lives as possible,” Ivkova said, BTA reports. Nikolov said no children appeared among the dead or injured, according to BTA, and the head of orthopaedics at Heart and Brain Hospital in Burgas said one of its six crash patients held Romanian nationality, BTA reports.

Chalakov declared a partial state of emergency in the municipalities of Straldzha, Tundzha and Yambol from 7:30 a.m., and 17 fire and rescue teams from five regions worked at the scene, BTA reports. Yambol district prosecutor Doychin Doychev said the National Investigation Service would take over because of the severity of the crashes, with one pre-trial proceeding for each pile-up. “There is an enormous amount of work to be done, including on-site inspections and questioning eyewitnesses,” Doychev said, according to BTA, adding that investigators consider the weather the likely cause at this stage.

The crash upended a day of official business. Radev cancelled the rest of his programme in Varna after meeting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and the government called off its afternoon cabinet meeting, according to BTA and Radio Bulgaria. “I would like to express my deepest condolences and I would like to pay respects to the rescue teams,” von der Leyen said, according to Reuters, which reports that she cut her visit short. President Iliana Iotova left the Paris Peace Forum early to return home, her press office said, according to BTA. The national transfusion centre appealed for blood donors across the country, BTA and Radio Bulgaria report.

Bulgaria already records the highest road-death rate in the European Union: 71 deaths per million inhabitants in 2025, ahead of Romania with 68 and Croatia with 65, according to final European Commission figures published Oct. 27. DW puts the EU average at 43 per million. Nikolov said officials would consider better road markings on stretches prone to fog. “The entire incident will be examined in detail,” he said, according to BTA. The Road Infrastructure Agency expects the closure, between the Zimnitsa and Kabile junctions according to Euronews, to last for a prolonged period, with diversions through Karnobat and Sliven, BTA reports.