A stretch of Bulgaria’s main road to the Black Sea disappeared into fog so thick that rescue crews had to cut away sections of the crash barrier to reach the people trapped inside the wreckage.
Two pileups on the A1 Trakia motorway in eastern Bulgaria killed 12 people and injured dozens on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026, Health Minister Katya Ivkova said. The crashes hit opposite carriageways at the same point near the town of Zimnitsa at 7 a.m. local time, forcing the closure of the road in both directions. Officials gave counts ranging from about 50 to 86 vehicles, many of them heavy trucks.
Sliven regional Gov. Mihail Kasherov, speaking to reporters at the site, said the scene was beyond description and unlike anything he had witnessed.
Images carried by local media showed cars and trucks heaped across six lanes of highway, many of them crushed or overturned, others thrown off to the side. Police, firefighters and ambulance crews rushed to the scene near the city of Yambol.
It Started With a Bus
The first pileup began with a collision between a bus and a truck on the eastbound carriageway, Interior Ministry General Secretary Lyubomir Nikolov said while briefing reporters at the crash site, about 75 kilometers (47 miles) west of Burgas. Fog was the likely cause, he said.
The first reports reached authorities at 7:10 a.m. local time (5:10 a.m. GMT), Yambol regional Gov. Georgi Chalakov said. The second pileup, on the Sofia-bound carriageway, was also likely caused by the fog, with drivers additionally distracted by the first crash, an official said.
Police opened an investigation. Initial assessments point to “reduced visibility due to fast-forming dense fog, wet road surface and speeds unsuitable for the conditions,” police said.
The Trakia motorway runs west to east across the country, linking the capital, Sofia, with the Black Sea port city of Burgas. Road administration director Galin Kostov said the motorway would stay shut until it had been cleared.
Fog Grounded the Helicopters
Rescue teams had to remove sections of the crash barrier to get to people, Chalakov said. The same fog that blinded drivers meant helicopters could not be used for evacuations, he said. Ambulances carried the injured to hospitals in the Yambol, Sliven and Burgas regions.
Most of the victims died at the scene, and the others died later, Ivkova said. About 50 injured people were taken to hospitals, according to the Interior Ministry.
Von der Leyen Changed Her Schedule
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was on a working visit in Bulgaria that day and had to rearrange her plans after her host, Prime Minister Rumen Radev, left her to head for the motorway.
President Iliana Yotova cut short her participation in the Paris Peace Forum and returned to Bulgaria, her press office announced.
Radev declared Wednesday, Nov. 11, a day of national mourning.
One witness, who blamed the “very thick fog” for what happened, pulled a man out of a burning vehicle.