site.btaSix Undocumented Migrants Die in Car Crash after Police Chase near Burgas

Six migrants died, while three others and their driver were injured in a traffic accident that took place near Burgas, on the Black Sea, on Thursday night, the Director of the General Directorate Border Police, Chief Commissioner Anton Zlatanov, said in an interview for bTV on Friday morning. The vehicle, a Skoda with Romanian licence plates driven by a Romanian national, was carrying a total of 10 people, which is twice the permissible capacity.

Zlatanov said that all 10 people on board were in violation of the law, as the migrants had entered Bulgaria illegally. At around 9:20 p.m. police officers noticed a car that was allegedly driving over the speed limits. When they tried to pull it over, the driver did not comply.

At this point, procedure 27 was activated, whereby all police and members of the gendarmerie coordinate their actions and carry out cordoning-off measures. In an attempt to evade spike strips deployed by the police, the driver veered off the road, and the car crashed, leading to six fatalities. The driver and the three surviving passengers received first aid at the scene.

According to preliminary data, the surviving migrants are from Afghanistan.

Zlatanov reported that in the last year and a half, between 15 and 20 organized criminal groups involved in migrant trafficking have been neutralized, and investigations are continuing. He added: "Zero migration is not possible because these are global processes. However, we have reduced migration pressure by about 70% compared to last year."