Two Yambol firefighters who were among the first rescuers at the pile-ups on the Trakia motorway on 10 November have described how they reached the injured. Senior inspector Stancho Nankov and senior firefighter Ivan Velikov, both of the regional fire and rescue service, cut open two cars and helped four people.
That morning, 86 vehicles collided in thick fog near the Zimnitsa junction by Yambol. Twelve people died and nearly 50 were hurt. The next day, minister Georgi Peev called the institutions together. The duty centres of the road agency, the interior ministry and the toll authority were given 7 days to agree common rules for dangerous weather.
On 11 November, Minister Georgi Peev cut short his participation in COP31 and convened an extraordinary meeting of the expert group on road safety reform.
"The first thing we saw was many crashed cars and many people shouting for help. There were also many bodies around the cars," Velikov told BNT. Some people near the cars were in shock and did not answer when asked if they were all right. Chaos reigned all around.
Stopped cars jammed the road and the firefighters could not reach the victims. They cut through the guardrails to get to the other carriageway. Nankov said it was very hard, but colleagues and people at the scene, both injured and unhurt, helped them.
At first, the rescuers found a man trapped under the metal of a car. They cut the car open and, when medics arrived, handed him over to the ambulance crew. Both cars they cut open held quite seriously injured people. Nankov and a medic quickly checked the injured to decide who was worst hurt and needed help most urgently.
The rescuers and victims also risked an explosion. Fuel had spilled on the road, cars were burning, and one of the vehicles hit was a gas tanker. Police kept people away from the tanker to prevent a fatal accident.
Nankov called the situation very grave and the sight horrifying. Everyone has emotions, he said, but it is up to rescuers how those emotions affect the person in front of them.
"There is always a moment of fear, but it cannot affect us, because we have no right to fear," Nankov said.
Velikov said it was the hardest call he had ever answered. Only after the operation ended did he realise how much worse the outcome could have been.
Both men offered condolences to the families of the dead. They thanked their colleagues and the people who helped in the rescue. They said the scene on the morning of 10 November will stay in their minds forever.