Bulgaria motorway pile-up kills 11 in thick fog near Yambol

A Bulgaria motorway pile-up killed 11 people on Tuesday, after thick fog triggered crashes near Yambol in the country’s southeast.

Two mass collisions shut both carriageways of the Trakia motorway by the Zimnitsa junction, and dozens of people needed treatment.

What happened in the Bulgaria motorway pile-up

According to Health Minister Katya Ivkova, ten victims died where they were and a further patient died later in hospital. Her ministry cautioned that more deaths were possible while crews cleared the wreckage.

Prime Minister Rumen Radev counted 48 injured people, whereas another account listed 46. The first collision hit the carriageway toward Burgas, where a lorry blocked a passenger bus.

Behind the bus, a grain lorry then crashed, and a car slammed into the rear of that truck. A separate pile-up struck the opposite carriageway, toward Sofia.

All 11 victims were in vehicles heading toward Burgas, said Lyubomir Nikolov of the interior ministry. He called sudden dense fog the most likely cause.

Vehicle counts in the Bulgaria motorway pile-up

However, counts differed during the day. Regional governor Mihail Kasherov spoke of more than 70 vehicles, and he said the scene defied description.

Later, the Interior Ministry reported 86 vehicles in all, 63 on the Burgas-bound side and 23 on the Sofia-bound side. Wrecks stretched for about a kilometre, a news agency correspondent said.

A regional road service director, Galin Kostov, said the surface was wet and some drivers travelled too fast for the conditions. Emergency services raced to the A1 motorway.

Todor Mishinev, a chief inspector at the Interior Ministry, said a few people had not yet escaped their vehicles. Rescue came first, he said, and investigators would start work afterwards.

Hospitals and response to the Bulgaria motorway pile-up

At 11:30 a.m., the Health Ministry counted 46 patients in hospital. The Bulgaria motorway pile-up sent them to hospitals in four cities. Eighteen were at a hospital in Sliven, nine at the military medical academy there, 12 in Yambol and seven in two hospitals in Burgas.

One of the Burgas patients was in serious condition and went into surgery. At the Sliven hospital, four patients were in intensive care, and the hospital paused surgery to free staff.

Helicopters stood by to fly three very serious patients to Burgas airport. Two military transport aircraft carrying stretchers and medical teams landed there, and Radev sent the government aircraft too.

Ivkova thanked medical crews and the interior and defence ministries for working closely together. “We are ready to save as many lives as possible,” she said.

Meanwhile, Radev called the crash a tragedy and cancelled his later events. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who was visiting Bulgaria, cut her trip short.

Bulgaria’s road safety record

Bulgaria’s roads rank as the deadliest in the EU. In 2025 it logged 71 road deaths per million residents, more than any other member.

For now, the Bulgaria motorway pile-up leaves families waiting for news and doctors treating dozens of patients. Also, investigators will study why so many vehicles piled up.