Bus Driver Charged after Fatal Crash near Malko Tarnovo Border Crossing

The District Prosecutor’s Office in Burgas has charged one of the drivers of the overturned bus near Malko Tarnovo border crossing.

The Ukrainian national’s detention has been extended to 72 hours over causing the deaths by negligence of two women. According to prosecutors, the driver failed to take the necessary measures to prevent the bus, which had stopped for a break, from moving on its own, resulting in a single-vehicle road accident that caused the deaths of the two passengers.

The District Prosecutor’s Office in Burgas is expected to submit a request to the court for the defendant to be remanded in custody.

The other driver, who had been detained by police for 24 hours, has been released. He was not behind the wheel in the minutes before the incident.

There were 39 people on board the bus — two drivers, a tour operator and 36 passengers, mostly women and children from Ukraine. They had been travelling on an excursion from Odesa to Istanbul.

About 4km from the Malko Tarnovo border checkpoint, the vehicle ran out of fuel. The driver pulled over to the side of the road so as not to obstruct traffic on the narrow two-lane road and walked to a nearby petrol station to get fuel.

After the bus was refuelled, it suddenly began rolling backwards and slid into a roadside ravine. According to witness accounts, the two women who died were inside the bus.

Some of the passengers were outside the vehicle at the time of the incident and were not injured.