Bulgaria: bus crash. Patashev (Caritas) to SIR, “a great tragedy. Our prayers for the victims and their families, solidarity with North Macedonia”

(from Sofia) “Terrible news, 45 lives lost, most of them young, including 12 children, only 7 survivors, a sad day for Bulgaria”: this is the comment made by Emanuil Patashev, secretary general of Caritas Bulgaria, on the accident that involved a bus of Macedonian citizens tonight, 40 km from Sofia. And he adds: “We went to sleep with the images of the fire in an old people’s home near Varna where 9 old people died, and we woke up with an even greater tragedy”. “Our heart-felt sympathy and prayers go to the victims and their beloved ones – he goes on.- We sympathise with the people of our Macedonian brothers, we are brotherly peoples, we share the same historical roots and linguistic proximity”. “Even if from different nations, we are all part of a common home, their pain is our pain today, all our solidarity goes to Macedonians”. It will be a national day of mourning in North Macedonia, tomorrow: “Probably – he adds – this decision will be shared by the Bulgarian authorities too”. The Prime Minister of Macedonia, Zoran Zaev, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bujar Osmani, have arrived in Bulgaria, and for the moment the investigative authorities are working on two versions: human error and technical deficiency of the bus.
Valentina Bombelli