The tragedy on the Trakia Motorway near the Zimnitsa interchange attracted the attention of some of the world’s largest international media outlets. Eleven people died and 51 were injured in the two chain-reaction crashes on November 10. A total of 86 vehicles were involved in the collisions.
Some foreign reports, however, cited 12 victims. ABC News described the incident as a tragedy caused by dense fog on a motorway in eastern Bulgaria and cited a theory that reduced visibility, wet road surfaces and speed inappropriate for the conditions had combined to cause it. “Dense fog on a motorway in eastern Bulgaria caused two serious crashes,“ the report stated, as cited by Novini.bg.
Discrepancy in the Number of Victims
The BBC also reported that 12 people had died and noted that a national mourning period had been declared in Bulgaria. Bulgarian institutions and national media outlets report 11 victims. The Council of Ministers declared November 11 a Day of National Mourning in memory of those who died in the crashes near Zimnitsa.
The British tabloid the Mirror also published information about 12 fatalities, reporting that 46 people had been injured. The report described how dozens of passenger cars and trucks crashed into one another in conditions of dense fog. The media outlet also reported that a blood donation drive had begun at the University Hospital in Burgas.
Drone Footage Showed the Scale of the Crash
USA Today shared drone footage of the crash site on its social media channels. The footage was used to show the scale of the destruction and the large number of vehicles involved in the collisions.
The tragedy was also covered by Al Jazeera, Reuters, EFE, the Associated Press and the Guardian. International reports have primarily focused on the sudden onset of fog, limited visibility and the subsequent collisions between cars and trucks. The investigation into the causes of the crashes is ongoing.
Sources: novini.bg, bntnews.bg, government.bg