Hellish Trakiya Hwy Crash Trial Starts in Bulgaria

Nine people were killed and 20 injured in mid-June 2011 when a passenger bus overturned and burst into flames near the city of Plovdiv, Southern Bulgaria. Photo by DarikNews.bg

The trial in the case of a tragic bus accident on Bulgaria's Trakiya highway, which took nine lives, is finally starting Wednesday, over one year after it occured.

The defendants are bus driver, Svetoslav Dimitrov, who was arrested and later released on bail, the owner and manager of the Enturtrans company, which operated the bus, Eniz Chengel, and the Enturtrans Transport Unit Head, Nikolay Toshev.

The Supreme Court of Cassations ruled earlier to not try the case in the second largest city of Plovdiv, which is the jurisdiction where the crash happened, since all three defendants live in the Black Sea city of Burgas along with 36 of a total of 65 witnesses, among them 7 injured passengers.

The defendants face anywhere between 5 to 15 years behind bars.

The inspection showed the bus had a number of technical failures such as cracks, a damaged break, and poor wiring, which are deemed to have caused the accident.

On June 15 2011, an Enturtrans bus, travelling from the capital Sofia to Burgas overturned and burst into flames on Trakiya highway, near Plovdiv, in the wee hours, killing 9, among them a 14-year-old teen, and injuring 20.