All the injured from the two pile-ups on the Trakia motorway were taken to hospital within an hour to an hour and a half, Yambol regional governor Georgi Chalakov told a briefing on Wednesday morning.
"The ambulances were called out the moment the alert came in on the 112 emergency line, and they arrived within 10 minutes," Chalakov told BNT.
Where it began: 11 dead in crashes on Trakia motorway, seven of the injured in Burgas hospital
Thick fog hung over the motorway between the Kabile and Zimnitsa junctions on the morning of 10 November, and cars crashed into each other in both directions. In all, 86 vehicles were involved. That same morning, a hospital in Burgas sent three ambulances with medical teams and orthopaedists to the scene.
The Health Ministry confirmed at 5pm on Tuesday that 11 people died. In the first hours the reported toll was 12, but it was corrected after the victims were identified and the number of injured was established, the ministry's press office said. Ten people died at the scene, and one of those taken to St Panteleimon hospital in Yambol died there.
Hospitals have admitted 51 injured people in total: 33 in Sliven, 11 in Yambol and 7 in Burgas. Thirteen are seriously hurt. A Romanian citizen in an especially critical condition is on a ventilator at the Heart and Brain hospital in Burgas.
Medical and police teams from Yambol, Sliven and Burgas headed for the motorway. Chalakov said police reached the scene within a few minutes, helped the injured and directed traffic so that ambulances could get to the cars.
The regional governor said the services worked well together and acted fast. He said the injured were moved in a fairly short time, despite the scale of the crashes.
The lane towards Sofia reopened first, between 1am and 1.30am on Wednesday, and the lane towards Burgas about two hours later. Traffic now flows normally in both directions, but the fog has returned and visibility is poor.
The regional administration is in constant contact with the Road Infrastructure Agency (API). API will put forward proposals to make the section safer, these will be carried out, and the administration will help. Chalakov called on drivers to adjust to the weather, because the fog season is starting.
The National Investigation Service is looking into the causes of the crashes. Experts must establish the order of the collisions, how the drivers were driving and what part the weather played.
Prime minister Rumen Radev visited the crash site. He said the Council of Ministers is declaring 11 November a day of mourning for the dead. Radev said an air bridge has been set up, and the two Spartan aircraft and the government plane are on standby. He will also visit the hospitals in Burgas, Sliven and Yambol with the health minister.
Radev called it a tragic day for all of Bulgaria. He offered condolences to the families of the dead, thanked the rescuers and the people who helped in the difficult conditions, and said he hopes there will be no more victims. In his statement he spoke of 12 dead.
Radev said that abroad there are large information boards that warn of danger, and asked why Bulgaria has none. He said it is also a question of attitude to people's health and lives, of will and of organisation, and that it can be done at lower cost.
"It is not a question of money alone, even though huge sums have been stolen from everything," Radev told BNT. He said the results of the Hemus case are still awaited.
The government is working on a single information centre to pool information in real time. The prime minister said it should be built next year.