site.btaAbout 500 Cars, One Bus Blocked at Trakiya Motorway in the Night to Saturday

About 500 Cars, One Bus Blocked at Trakiya Motorway in the Night to Saturday

Sofia, December 31 (BTA) - About 500 automobiles and one bus were blocked at the Trakiya Motorway throughout the night of December 30 to December 31 around Karnobat, the Roads Infrastructure Agency said. The blockade was caused by a chain crash involving 25 to 35 cars, a truck, which blocked the road after experiencing a failure, strong snowfall and snow drifts.

The Karnobat-Bourgas road section was closed already late Friday afternoon. The old road connecting Bourgas and Aitos was also closed to traffic, which practically made access to Bourgas by road impossible. Bypass roads, Yambol-Sredets and Elhovo-Bourgas, were also hardly accessible.

The number of injured in road accidents has not yet been specified by the competent authorities. No casualties have been reported either.

Bourgas Regional Governor Vulcho Cholakov declared an emergency situation in the region. Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and Interior Minister Roumyana Buchvarova arrived at the emergency scene.

The Prime Minister convened a meeting of the Crisis Centre for Population Protection in Emergencies to due to the complicated situation in Bourgas. Participating in the meeting were Interior Minister Roumyana Buchvarova, Interior Ministry Chief Secretary Georgi Kostov, National Fire Service Head Nikolai Nikolov, Chief of Defence Gen. Konstantin Popov and Road Agency Chair Doncho Atanassov.

Regional Governor Cholakov said Saturday morning that dozens people from the blocked cars, including mothers with children and a pregnant woman, have been evacuated and accommodated in Karnobat and kindergartens in Aitos and Bourgas. Some people refused to leave their cars.

On the order of General Popov servicemen and specialized equipment of the Bulgarian army joined the rescue efforts to help the snowbound people on the Trakiya Motorway, the press centre of the Defence Ministry said.

At around noon on Saturday the Interior Ministry press centre said that the blocked cars at the Karnobat-Aitos section have already pulled out. As many as 250 people have been evacuated nd accommodated in nearby accessible settlements. assistance has been provided for the pulling out and securing of about 350 vehicles.

At 4 pm, the Roads Infrastructure Agency said that traffic along the Trakiya Motorway was resumed.

Due to another chain crash involving 11 cars and two trucks a section of the Hemus Motorway in the Varna Region was also closed to traffic.

Dozens of settlements in the Sliven Region and separate quarters of Sliven have remained without electricity, said Snezhana Kuneva of the Sliven Municipality. This was due to the galeforce wind exceeding 125 km/h at places caused damage of power lines. A number of settlements in the municipalities of Bourgas, Nessebur, Pomorie and Karnobat are also without electricity.

The meteorological conditions in Northeastern Bulgaria remain complicated with the snow cover exceeding 55 cm at places.