A serious accident between a car and a bus took the lives of three people, including a child, and injured other road users on the "Hemus" highway near Shumen, the police announced.
The two dead are the driver and a passenger of the car, in which there were a total of five people, including two children. The others are in hospital in serious condition. Firefighters also had to help get the bus driver out. He was also taken to hospital.
The accident was reported minutes after 12 noon. Police, fire and ambulance teams were immediately sent to the scene. It was established that the car in which the five were traveling from Varna to Shumen hit the oncoming driver of a bus head-on.
As a result of the impact, the driver of the Golf - a 67-year-old man and a 48-year-old woman, a passenger in the car, died on the spot. Two children aged 7 and 11 and a 24-year-old man were traveling in the car. The 11-year-old child died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. The 7-year-old child is in the Shumen hospital in serious condition, medics are fighting for his life.
The 24-year-old man, a passenger in the car, has fractures, but is not in immediate danger of life. The driver of the bus, a 51-year-old man, was transported to the Shumen hospital, where he was admitted with traumatic injuries, not life-threatening.
The traffic accident occurred on a section of the highway where repair work is currently being carried out.
Due to the accident, a temporary traffic organization has been introduced on the highway in the direction of Varna and towards the interior of the country in the section between Shumen and Novi Pazar. Cars are being redirected along the old road to Varna, and police teams are regulating traffic on site.
The causes of the accident are being clarified. One of them is that the driver of the car felt sick while driving, as a result of which he lost control of the car and hit an oncoming bus.
The police are urging drivers to drive with increased caution, to comply with the temporary organization introduced and to be especially cautious in areas with repair work.