Long queue of lorries blocked traffic towards Danube Bridge at Bulgarian-Romania border

The main road Rousse - Silistra was temporarily closed to traffic early this morning on December 6. This was reported by BNT viewers. They said that a police team was redirecting the traffic of cars in the direction of Rouse through the neighbouring village of Nikolovo.

There was again kilometres long queue of waiting heavy goods vehicles this morning. According to drivers, the reason for the traffic jam was the reduced number of working counters on the Romanian side.

"We have been waiting since last night, approximately 13 hours," says driver Levent Sevdanov.

"I hope by tonight I will get through to the other side. If it wasn't for the war in Ukraine, it wouldn't be. All carriers from Ukraine use this border. After Russia bombed all the oil refineries in Ukraine and now the fuel tanks are coming from Romania and Bulgaria," adds Ukrainian driver Vitaliy Trischechkin.

Krassimir Ganchev's truck is loaded with sunflowers. He left Popovo for Germany, but he doesn't know when he will arrive.

Dimo Tonev, the mayor of Marten, also insists on urgent measures against the transport chaos in the Danube Bridge area. Residents there are losing patience and do not believe promises.

"In our country it is already a daily routine not to be able to get to work, if there is any accident, how it will arrive I have no idea. For me it is a lack of state decision. They do what they want to do because there is no control. Our main road route to get to Rouse and some to their workplaces is through the neighbouring village of Nikolovo. The other option is to buy boats and cross the Danube. Some wait until they run out of fuel. At these fuel prices, people don't leave with full petrol tanks between Marten and Rouse, for the 5-kilometre stretch," Marten Mayor Dimo Tonev told BNT.

The border crossing explained that the problem was due to the busy traffic over the past 24 hours. In the past 24 hours more than 3,000 lorries have entered and exited the country through the Danube Bridge. The increased traffic is expected to persist because of the upcoming Christmas and New Year holidays.