At least 11 dead and 48 injured in a multiple accident on a Bulgarian highway

A chain collision involving dozens of vehicles on a highway in Bulgaria caused at least eleven deaths and dozens of injuries this Tuesday morning, as announced by Prime Minister Roumen Radev.

"The provisional balance is 11 dead and 48 injured," he told the media.

The accident occurred near Yambol, in the southeast of the country, on the highway that connects the capital, Sofia, with the city of Burgas, on the shores of the Black Sea, when dense fog considerably reduced visibility.

About fifty vehicles, including cars and trucks, were involved in the accident, the governor of the region, Georgi Chalukov, told the local agency BTA.

Images broadcast by Bulgarian television channels show overturned, burned or destroyed vehicles on both sides of the road.

Radev, who had met during the morning with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has canceled all other commitments on his agenda to travel to the site of the accident, as announced by his cabinet.

Eleven injured people have been admitted to the Yambol hospital, most of them in serious condition, the deputy governor of the region, Valentin Valtchev, told the BTA agency.

The other injured have been transferred to hospitals in Burgas and Sliven, where the Minister of Health was scheduled to hold a press conference in the early afternoon.