At least 11 people have been killed and 49 injured in two pile-ups involving 86 cars and lorries on Bulgaria’s Trakia Motorway, after dense fog descended on the highway near the south-eastern city of Yambol on Tuesday morning.
The crashes struck both carriageways of the motorway near the Zimnitsa junction, closing one of Bulgaria’s main transport routes in both directions. The first emergency call came at 7:10 a.m. local time, and the motorway was shut between the Zimnitsa and Kabile junctions while rescue teams worked through the wreckage.
The first collision happened in the lanes heading towards Burgas, near kilometre 289, where a lorry blocked the path of a passenger bus, according to Lyubomir Nikolov, acting chief secretary of the Interior Ministry. A second pile-up followed shortly afterwards on the opposite carriageway, heading towards the capital, Sofia, near kilometre 294.
Images from the scene showed cars and trucks piled up across both sides of the road, many overturned, crushed or forced off the carriageway. Police, firefighters and ambulance crews rushed to the scene, and some people were still trapped in their vehicles hours after the first crash.
Prime Minister Rumen Radev described the accident as a tragedy and said government aircraft had been dispatched to help move the injured to hospital. The BG-ALERT emergency warning system was activated in the Yambol, Sliven and Burgas regions, advising motorists to avoid the affected stretch.
The death toll was revised upwards through the morning as the scale of the disaster became clear. Early reports put the number of dead at five, then at least 10, before Bulgarian National Radio reported at least 11 killed and 49 injured. The health minister later put the figure at 12, with 10 people dying at the scene and two more while being taken to hospital. The final toll may still change.
Officials said the crashes happened amid a sudden onset of dense fog and slippery road conditions, with a regional road official also pointing to inappropriate driving speeds. The cause has not yet been formally determined, and police are expected to carry out procedural and investigative work once rescue operations conclude. The identities and nationalities of the victims have not yet been released.
Sources: Bulgarian National Radio, “At least 11 dead, dozens injured in Bulgarian motorway pile-up”, 10 November 2026 — https://bnrnews.bg/en/post/556080/at-least-11-dead-dozens-injured-in-bulgarian-motorway-pile-up ; Reuters, “At least 10 die in Bulgarian motorway pile-up”, 10 November 2026 — https://www.reuters.com/world/least-10-die-bulgarian-motorway-pile-up-2026-11-10/
