One Week After the Trakia Motorway Tragedy: Emergency Medics Tell BNT About the Devastating Crash

The horrific crash on the Trakia motorway, in which two young footballers from Slavia academy and the father of one of the children lost their lives, shocked the entire country. Among the first people to arrive at the scene were two teams from the Emergency Medical Centre of the city of Yambol (Southern Bulgaria).

The initial information indicated that there was one injured person. Minutes later, it became clear that the tragedy was far greater.

Svetla Shanova, nurse at the Yambol Emergency Medical Centre: "Perhaps within two minutes another report came through saying there were more casualties. Our resuscitation team was immediately dispatched and left within those two minutes."

When the emergency teams arrived, they were confronted with a scene they still struggle to describe.

Nikolay Nikolov, driver of a Yambol resuscitation ambulance: "This is one of the most serious accidents I have ever seen. The scene was horrifying... The woman who was outside was also covered in blood."

Medics and bystanders worked side by side to save the lives of the survivors.

Maria Ruseva, nurse at the Yambol Emergency Medical Centre: "There was a woman who later identified herself as a medical professional. She had manually stabilised the woman's neck. We fitted a rigid cervical collar, placed her on a stretcher, established intravenous access, checked her oxygen saturation and transported her to the Emergency Department in Yambol as quickly as possible."

Svetla Shanova, nurse at the Yambol Emergency Medical Centre: "It really turned out to be a very serious crash. That was why a second ambulance was dispatched to support our colleagues."

The second crew treated the surviving man from the crushed car – the coach of the children who died. He had suffered a concussion, he was in profound shock.

Nataliya Koleva, paramedic: "He told us, 'We were on our way to a tournament.' My friend, the man was under tremendous stress... I held his hands; he was very frightened... Usually, when something like this happens, people lose their memory because of the severe shock. He could not remember anything and kept asking what had happened."

The tragedy, which claimed three lives, including those of two children, has been difficult for the emergency crews to come to terms with.

Nikolay Nikolov, driver of a Yambol resuscitation ambulance: "I still cannot get used to seeing children among the victims. It is very difficult. It haunts me every day.”

Maria Ruseva, nurse: "We always deal with difficult cases, but there are some that you simply cannot erase from your mind or forget. The trauma is immense, but this is our job... Before anything else, we are mothers, we are human beings, and only then are we medical professionals. We feel devastated. Children have died."

For them, every emergency call means one thing – a fight to save lives. A battle that sometimes proves impossible to win.