Struma motorway bus fire crash: A child is the 45th victim, the body found during additional inspection

Another body was found during an additional inspection of the bus with citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia that crashed on Bulgaria’s Struma motorway on November 23. It was the body of a child, Deputy Chief Prosecutor and Head of the National Investigation Service, Borislav Sarafov, confirmed for BNT on November 26.

Thus, the number of victims in the serious road accident became 45, as originally announced. The survivors are 7.

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45 people, including 12 children, died after a bus crashed and caught fire on Struma motorway in western Bulgaria in the early hours on November 23.

The bus was registered in the Republic of North Macedonia and was carrying tourists, who were returning from a trip in Turkey to Skopje.

Seven people managed to break the windows of the bus and escape. They were taken to Pirogov emergency hospital in Sofia with injuries and burns..

Speaking at the accident site, Bulgarian caretaker Minister of Interior, Boyko Rashkov said the victims had been burned beyond recognition, describing it as a "terrifying scene".

The bus had been travelling as part of a convoy of four buses and had stopped off at a petrol station near Sofia shortly before the accident. The other buses, which were a few minutes ahead, returned to the Republic North Macedonia safely.

Human error is the main version in the investigation of the bus crash and fire, that took the lives of at least 44 people