Yambol Regional Governor: Trakia Motorway Cleared, but Fog Persists near Yambol

Traffic on the Trakia Motorway near Yambol has been restored in both directions following the chain crashes involving 86 vehicles that occurred on November 10. The carriageway toward Sofia was reopened at 1:20 a.m., and traffic toward Burgas was restored about two hours later. This was announced on bTV by Yambol Regional Governor Georgi Chalakov.

Chalakov urged drivers to exercise increased caution, as fog and reduced visibility have returned to the area. According to him, the condition of the injured people admitted to Yambol Hospital has not changed since the previous day. Two of the patients, who had been in more serious condition and had undergone surgery, have now been stabilized. The remaining patients have lighter injuries and have been admitted to the orthopedic department.

Crisis headquarters established in the early hours

A crisis headquarters was set up in the early hours of November 10 to coordinate the actions of the institutions. The first reports of the serious incident were received shortly after 7:00 a.m., while information from the rescue teams at the scene began coming in around 7:20–7:30 a.m.

“No one expected such a serious situation. When we arrived at the scene around 9:00–9:30 a.m., we saw the scale of the tragedy with our own eyes,” Georgi Chalakov said.

The BG-ALERT system was activated at 8:10 a.m., with warnings sent periodically throughout the day. Since the system is activated on a regional basis, the neighboring regions of Sliven and Burgas were also contacted to send warnings within their territories. Chalakov clarified that some residents did not receive the message when it was first activated precisely because the notifications were sent periodically.

Access to some of the vehicles was blocked

The first emergency medical, police and fire service teams arrived within 17 minutes of the signal being reported. The evacuation of the injured was hampered by the extensive damage and the numerous vehicles involved in the collisions, which blocked access to some of the people. Nearly 17 police teams were sent to the scene and took part in organizing the operation and evacuating the injured.

The regional governor described the coordination between the institutions as good and the response as timely, but emphasized the scale of the incident.

“You can see that we have a crash involving 86 vehicles. Nothing like this has ever happened. I think it has never happened in Bulgaria either,” Georgi Chalakov commented.

Sources: btvnovinite.bg