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The bus with a group of tourists on board caught up in the night from Monday to Tuesday flame after the driver collided with a guardrail.
The vehicle was on its way back to Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia, after a weekend trip to Istanbul, Turkey. The accident happened about 40 kilometers south of the Bulgarian capital Sofia.
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suffocation
Autopsies show that the victims died mainly from asphyxiation in the fire and not from injuries from the crash. An explosion did not occur; an attack is excluded.
The location where the accident took place is still under investigation. For example, the road markings and traffic signs are considered.
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A guardrail probably contributed to the disaster, according to the researchers. It was not only ‘not useful but also dangerous for traffic’. The fire is said to have started due to friction, when the bus collided with the guardrail and pulled part of it with it.
According to investigators, witnesses testified that the bus caught fire immediately after the first collision with the guardrail. “Very quickly, the bus filled with smoke,” a researcher told Reuters news agency.
Door blocked
“No one could get out of the front door because there were a lot of flames there. People went to the back door, but it was blocked by the guard rail.”
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Seven occupants were able to get themselves to safety by climbing out of the burning bus. The 44 others were killed, including 12 children. Their identification will take a long time, as most of the bodies have been burned.
There is another person on the passenger list, but it is not clear where he has gone. That person may have been on one of the three other buses that made the journey between Istanbul and Skopje.
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