Bulgaria:at least 46 die after bus catches fire on motorway

In Bulgaria, at least 46 people including children died after a bus caught fire on a motorway in western part of the country on Tuesday. According to Interior Ministry official, the incident occured after at 5.30 a.m. IST near the village of Bosnek. The bus is believed to have travelled from Turkey to North Macedonia. The area around the site of the incident has now been sealed off. North Macedonia's Prime Minister Zoran Zaev has already contacted his Bulgarian counterpart to discuss the incident. The cause of the disaster was not immediately clear. Bulgarian officials say the bus swerved off the motorway and tore away a 50m (164ft) section of the crash barrier, but it was unclear if that was before or after it caught fire.

Macedonian Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani told reporters the coach party had been returning to the capital Skopje from a weekend holiday trip to the Turkish city of Istanbul. Investigative service chief Borislav Sarafov said "human error by the driver or a technical malfunction are the two initial versions for the accident".Seven people escaped from the bus and were taken to hospital where they were treated for burn injuries.