Chronology of serious incidents along Bulgaria's border with Türkiye involving Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defence officers

On more than one occasion, the security of the land border with Turkey has put at risk the employees of the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Defence. The difficult terrain and increased migration pressure are becoming an increasingly serious challenge, requiring good training and modern equipment in the field.

STATE OF MIGRATION PRESSURE

In September this year, the Ministry of Interior detained a total of 2,822 third-country nationals, of whom 563 at entry, 381 at exit without registration and 1,878 were found to be illegally staying in the interior of the country. The number is 23.3% more compared to the previous month (2,288 persons).

In the period January - September 2022, a total of 12,740 third-country nationals were detained. Of them, 1,855 at entry to the state border, 1,759 at the exit without registration and 9,126 persons found to be illegally staying in the interior of the country.

Compared to the total number of detained in the same period of 2021 (6,560), a 2.6-fold increase is recorded.

2014 - Border police officer died in a crash

A lorry with 15 policemen overturned shortly after midnight on 26 December in a ravine near the village of Gorno Yablkovo, Sredets municipality. A 34-year-old policeman, who was driving the lorry, died.

2015 - Incident with a shot illegal migrant near Sredets

A group of 54 illegal immigrants was intercepted by border police. When attempting to detain them, they disobeyed and physically resisted the uniformed officers. Following a warning shot fired by one of the three policemen, the bullet ricocheted and wounded one of the men, who later died.

The cousin of the man killed near Sredets spoke to BNT.

Sidikolah, 17, told BNT about the horror of seeing your 19-year-old cousin die in your arms. The two fled the Taliban in Afghanistan to avoid being forcibly taken as soldiers.

2022 - Illegal migrants killed in serious military lorry crash

Two Afghan nationals, illegal migrants, died and 21 others were injured after a specialised military lorry crashed near the village of Gramatikovo. Two Bulgarian military personnel were also injured.

2022 - Two Bulgarian police officers killed by bus carrying migrants

Two policemen died after a bus carrying illegal migrants crashed into a patrol car at a busy intersection in Bourgas. The chase started from Malko Tarnovo and continued for nearly 50 km in the direction of Bourgas. Two Border Police teams attempt to stop the bus, but it was entering the city at high speed.

Two police officers from the coastal city of Bourgas were killed in the early hours on August 25, 2022, as they tried to stop a bus carrying migrants who had entered Bulgaria illegally.

The incident occurred after the bus refused to stop at two consecutive border police checkpoints in the vicinity of a roundabout.

The two police officers in the car, who tried to obstruct the bus by directly stopping in front of it, were declared dead at the scene.

The bus with Turkish registration plates was transporting 47 migrants. None of them were injured.

The bus had entered a residential area when the police officers halted their car across the road in front of it. The bus ploughed into the police vehicle and drove over the top of it and smashed into a bus stop.

2022 - Is another huge wave of migrants heading for Europe?

Migration processes continue in waves at different rates, and because of the war in Ukraine, we have witnessed a new refugee wave.

It appears that 2022 is comparable to 2015. Germany, the largest recipient of migrants by far, has taken in over 1.2 million refugees. For comparison, this is the number the country reached in all of 2015. Estimates suggest that by the end of 2022, the wave will be larger.