The serious pile-up on the Trakia motorway left dozens injured and caused human tragedies. Among those who provided assistance at the scene was attorney Lyubomira Minkova, who was travelling to Sofia and found herself a direct witness to what happened. Here is what she told FAKTI about the horrific minutes after the crash.
- Ms Minkova, you found yourself right next to the serious crash on the Trakia motorway. What did you see in the first minutes, and when did you realise the scale of the tragedy?
- In the early hours of the day, my husband and I set off for Sofia because I was due to take part in a court case. When we left Burgas and got onto the Trakia motorway heading towards Sofia, there was no fog at first, but it was twilight. At one point, near the junction for Zimnitsa, I noticed people standing around the central reservations and waving in reflective vests. My husband reduced his speed, but we had no idea why the people were waving so desperately. Then, in my peripheral vision, I saw that in the opposite carriageway, heading towards Burgas, 30 people with suitcases and luggage were standing in a straight line on the grassy area, and next to them there was a broken-down bus into which a lorry had crashed. Within the 100 metres of visibility provided by the fog, as we approached, I noticed that parallel to this bus, but in my lane, in the middle lane where we were travelling, there was a stationary lorry, and a tall, large man wearing a reflective vest was waving with all his strength for us to stop. My husband immediately reduced his speed, and we smoothly stopped behind the lorry, with the man standing in front of it.
We owe our lives to him!
As well as to the other people who were waving from all sides. At first, we could not see anything in front of us, while behind us the road was empty. Then someone stopped behind us, and within a minute the line of vehicles had become enormous. The man in the vehicle behind us said that another collision involving other cars had occurred behind us. I thought that something unusual had happened, because there were broken-down vehicles in both lanes. I saw that the people darting around the road had frightened faces, so I got out of the car. I left everything inside, got out and headed forward to help if necessary, because I had worked as an investigator for six years and had encountered a great deal of human death and tragedy. After walking 30 metres, a horrific scene unfolded before my eyes. Dozens of lorries and cars, as if crushed by a front loader, were scattered across both lanes. I saw that to my right, strangely positioned in the direction of travel towards Burgas, there was a crushed yellow car, with its driver inside. I went over and noticed someone unsuccessfully trying to pull the man out. The front of the car was crushed. At that moment, the man's eyes met mine. He was completely calm. Only his torso was visible, and there was blood on his head. I looked at him and he looked at me, but his face radiated indescribable peace and resignation, probably because of the traumatic shock he was experiencing. A woman told me that there were people down in the ditch with broken legs and more serious injuries. A man was lying on the ground, holding his leg, in some field. Another man next to him was shouting: “Help, won't somebody call an ambulance?” Then I saw that a boy was lying on his back in the ditch, while two others were beside him—the one who appeared to be about 15 years old was hugging him, and they were both crying.
- Witnesses say that the fog descended and lifted in waves, and visibility changed abruptly. What were the specific road conditions in that section, and were there warning signs indicating danger?
- Traffic was light and we were travelling calmly, although the road was wet. The thermometer in the car showed 4 degrees, but we had brand-new winter tyres. Near the town of Karnobat, a terrible fog suddenly spread around us and visibility dropped to 30–40 metres. Naturally, my husband reduced his speed and even remarked that the fog was dense. In principle, the Trakia motorway is poorly marked with both vertical and horizontal road markings. The horizontal markings are present, but they are not reflective, and I have strong criticism of the vertical signage. Then the fog almost disappeared, as if it were moving in waves. Later it returned. I did not see any road signs, because there were no reflective signs—neither speed-limit nor warning signs. I do not know how many kilometres before the junction for Zimnitsa it was, but I noticed that the fog itself was changing dynamically. After the limited visibility near Karnobat, it suddenly almost disappeared, then returned, and at one point, when visibility was around 100 metres, I noticed numerous people around the central reservations. By the time my husband and I arrived, everything was over.
- How did the people who came after you react? How did each of them help?
- Although I had the feeling that whatever had happened before I arrived was over, it turned out that it was not, because my husband heard bangs coming from unclear directions. He stayed on the road and, together with the other people, began walking back and forth to help. The people were in shock, but it was clear from their faces that they wanted to help somehow and did not know how.
My husband told me that at one point they were loosening the bolts on the central reservations to clear a path and get us away from there, so that space could be made for the emergency teams.
Later, they moved a man with a broken leg from the other carriageway into ours, but he said that his chest hurt badly. My husband heard people saying that somewhere ahead there was a white Opel that had been completely crushed beneath a lorry, and terrible screams could be heard coming from it. People reached out their hands, but the car had been flattened and it was impossible to reach those inside. But the greatest heroes, in my eyes, remained the dozens of people standing beside the central reservations, waving their hands and vests, as well as the man who stepped out in front of the last vehicle that had not been involved in the crash. Later, I heard a noise and saw a helicopter.
For me, it was a tremendous source of hope that a medical professional would come to help, but it never landed.
I spent the entire time in the ditch beneath the motorway and could see little of what was happening up there. At one point, I saw huge clouds of smoke rising above the road directly opposite me, followed by police cars stopped at the top of the ditch. At such a moment, for anyone in shock, time becomes an eternity. I saw an ambulance, and a man brought a stretcher bag to carry out the boy Branko, whom I was helping. Then, stumbling as I went, I climbed up the slope of the ditch, and the entire road was covered with fire engines and ambulances. The emergency workers probably provided appropriate assistance within the scope of their expertise, as did the people in the ambulances. My attention was fixed on Branko, and when I made sure he was already in the ambulance, I headed back to my car.
- As an investigator with experience in investigating serious incidents, how did you decide whom and how to help?
- After walking 30 metres, I found myself facing a horrific scene. In the distance, I saw the lorries involved in the collision twisted out of shape. But the next moment, my eyes fell on a yellow car whose front end on the driver's side was completely crushed, and in my peripheral vision I saw a man pulling at the driver, who was alone inside the passenger compartment. The man was motionless. My instinctive reaction at that moment was to help him, but after considering the situation for a fraction of a second, I realised that if I also started pulling him, I could cause him serious injuries. Since I had worked as an investigator for six years before becoming a prosecutor and then a lawyer, I knew that a person trapped by sheet metal can only be removed by cutting the metal very carefully, because pulling can cause metal fragments and rusty elements to become embedded in the injuries and make them worse. I looked the man in the eyes. He had blood on his head, but he seemed completely calm, as if in a state of peace, perhaps because of the traumatic shock he had experienced. Then people pointed out other injured individuals to me. I decided that the two boys—one of whom appeared to be about 15 years old—who were embracing each other and screaming in horror for their friend, who was lying on his back in the ditch, could not provide him with assistance. I made one of the most difficult decisions of my life: to leave the man trapped behind the sheet metal and descend into the ditch. Together with the two boys, we fought for the suffering boy, whose legs were hanging in some small stream or ditch at the end of the embankment. I told them that the boy had an open wound on his skull and that we had to stop the bleeding, but carefully, because any pressure could cause him unbearable pain and make him lose consciousness. So, using gauze and whatever else was available, we took turns soaking up the blood from the boy's parietal region. He drifted off and lost consciousness several times, but I told the boys that we had to keep talking to him constantly. So they began shouting: “Branko, Branko…” And they fought for him. Every time Branko tried to touch his head or sit up, blood poured from it. I began telling him: “Branko, stay calm, look how many people there are, the ambulance is coming now, you're a brave boy, just breathe, Branko, breathe, sweetheart…”
The greatest act of heroism by these boys came when I told them that the boy, lying almost in the water, was shaking violently and would freeze to death, and that he had to be covered immediately.
Every one of them threw off their jackets, and we covered him.
After some time, an ambulance arrived. As for your question about how I chose whom to help, I can put it very simply: I chose to help the person I could help, and with a broken heart I left the man whom I could have killed if I had started pulling him, because people trapped in vehicles can only be removed by specialists using cutting equipment that preserves the limbs injured by the sheet metal. It was not an easy choice. I hope that the man in the car is alive and well. I pray that I helped Branko as well and that he recovers.
- How do you make such a decision—whom to help when there are several seriously injured people around you and each of them needs immediate assistance?
- Such a decision is very difficult to make and is always connected to the experience you have professionally, the medical knowledge you do or do not possess, or the instinct that even if you save just one human life, you have already done a good deed for another person.
- There was mention of a medical helicopter that circled above the scene but did not land. What did you see, and do you know whether there was a real possibility of air medical evacuation for the most seriously injured?
- While all of Branko's companions were shouting: “…isn't there an ambulance, people?” One of the boys, who had a broken leg, stood up and even started walking because he realised that Branko was in the worst condition. Then suddenly we heard the sound of a helicopter. We all breathed a sigh of relief and said: “There, Branko, help is coming!” I saw a helicopter circling 50 metres above the fields in the opposite carriageway, heading towards Burgas, but it simply did not land. The fog had not lifted, and I do not know for what reasons the helicopter did not land, but shortly afterwards an ambulance arrived. At such moments, one loses all sense of time. To me, it seemed as if centuries had passed, although probably only 20 minutes had gone by before the ambulance arrived, but I cannot describe the hope with which I waited or how happy I was to hear the wail of the sirens. It was the first time in my life that I was glad to hear an ambulance siren. As far as I understood, there was no air evacuation because of the fog. But when they carried Branko to the ambulance in a stretcher bag and I got in, there were already dozens of police cars, fire engines and ambulances.
- You chose to help instead of filming what was happening with your phone. Why have people become “sick” with the urge to film tragedy on their phones…
- One of your colleagues already asked me: did you film any footage with your phone? My answer was quite literally: “For God's sake, no, I threw it into the car and got out to help. How can I help people with a phone in my hand? What would I film? I had to help.”
- After what you experienced, what questions remain for you regarding the causes of the crash, the safety of this section of the Trakia motorway and the institutions' readiness to respond in similar tragedies?
- In my view, the causes are complex, because in the field of road traffic accidents, a lawyer speaks last, after the experts. In my opinion, it is possible that some people were driving at an inappropriate speed, but their behaviour is difficult to assess because the fog was moving like a cloud. It kept lifting and descending, with some sections clear of fog and others having visibility of 200 metres. It is likely that dense fog suddenly descended in this section, reducing visibility to less than 10 metres, and that everyone caught in this sudden cloud in both carriageways reacted instinctively, leading to this enormous tragedy. We are talking about human decisions—sometimes wrong, sometimes right. I am not an expert, but I have travelled throughout Europe. I know that if Bulgaria introduces the “Vision Zero” standard, adopted by the EU in 1997 and based on the Swedish model, which requires the installation of weather sensors and intelligent electronic VMS boards, the scale of the tragedy would have been much smaller. This standard is designed to anticipate human error and protect people through these modern systems. I also consider the lack of adequate horizontal and vertical road markings to have contributed to the outcome, as well as the placement of speed-limit signs, which I do not currently want to assign responsibility to anyone for, because it is a matter requiring an entirely new scientific concept.