At least 46 people have died after a bus crashed and caught fire in western Bulgaria, BBC reported quoting local officials. The incident happened on a motorway near the village of Bosnek, southwest of the capital Sofia. The cause of the crash and fire is being investigated. Local reports say it may have hit a curb or a guardrail. A senior interior ministry official confirmed that children were among the dead and seven people — who had jumped out of the burning bus — had been taken to hospital for treatment in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, with burns. The incident happened on the Struma highway, 28 miles west of Sofia, at around 2am local time and either the "bus caught fire and crashed, or crashed and then caught fire", Nikolai Nikolov said. There were 53 people on board the bus, he added. Most of the victims were tourists from North Macedonia, an official from the country's embassy told BTV. North Macedonian Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani said the coach party was returning to the capital Skopje from a weekend holiday trip to the Turkish city of Istanbul, according to Reuters. The bus reportedly had North Macedonian plates. After arriving at the scene, Bulgarian Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov said victims' bodies were "completely burnt out", BTV said. North Macedonia's Prime Minister Zoran Zaev has already contacted his Bulgarian counterpart to discuss the incident. — Agencies
