Bulgaria Motorway Pileup: 11 Dead, Dozens Hurt Near Yambol
At least 11 people died and dozens were injured on Tuesday, November 10, when two chain-reaction crashes tore through a motorway in southeastern Bulgaria. The
At least 11 people died and dozens were injured on Tuesday, November 10, when two chain-reaction crashes tore through a motorway in southeastern Bulgaria. The pileups happened in thick fog near Yambol, on the highway that links the capital, Sofia, with the Black Sea port of Burgas.
"The toll at this point is 11 dead and 48 injured," Prime Minister Rumen Radev told reporters. Other reports later put the death toll at 12 and the number of injured at about 50.
Deputy Interior Minister Kaloyan Kaloyanov said 10 people died at the scene and one later in hospital. He said the crashes happened on both carriageways of the Trakia motorway, one in each direction.
Early estimates by Yambol regional governor Georgi Chalakov put the number of cars and trucks involved at around 50. Kaloyanov later gave a higher count of 86 vehicles: 63 on the lane toward Burgas and 23 on the lane toward Sofia.
How the first crash unfolded
Lyubomir Nikolov, the acting secretary general of the Interior Ministry, said the first collision took place on the Burgas-bound side. A truck cut off a passenger bus, and further vehicles then piled into the wreck.
Images from the scene showed overturned and crushed cars and trucks wedged together. Some vehicles were burned out.
Radev was in Varna for talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who was visiting Bulgaria, when the toll emerged. He canceled his official events planned for later that day, and government officials headed to the scene.
Bulgaria's road record
Bulgaria has the most dangerous roads in the European Union. European Commission figures show 71 road deaths per million inhabitants in 2025, the highest rate in the bloc.
Authorities have not yet released further details on the cause beyond the fog and the truck-and-bus collision that officials described as the first crash. Investigators are continuing to examine how the pileups developed on both sides of the motorway.
