A van carrying nine migrants who entered Bulgaria illegally crashed while being pursued by police near the country’s eastern Black Sea coast, killing six people.
The incident occurred near the city of Burgas, as police attempted to stop the vehicle, which had Romanian license plates, Border Police Chief Anton Zlatanov announced.
He said the driver repeatedly refused to stop at signals and tried to avoid spike strips set up by police.
The driver lost control and the van went off the road, overturned and plunged into a lake near the highway, killing six migrants.
Four others, including the Romanian driver, suffered minor injuries and were given first aid at the scene and then taken to hospital.
By contrast, Bulgaria, a Balkan country of 6.5 million people, is located on what was once a main route for migrants from the Middle East and Afghanistan to Europe, passing through Iran and Turkey.
The popularity of this route has declined in recent years.
More than 21,000 irregular migrants arrived in the EU via the Western Balkans route, a 78% drop compared to 2021 figures, according to the EU border control agency, Frontex.
Only a small number of them plan to stay in the EU member state, using Bulgaria as a transit corridor on their way west.
Zlatanov said that over the past two years, up to 20 organized criminal groups involved in migrant trafficking have been neutralized.
“Zero migration is not possible because these are global processes. However, we have reduced migration pressure by about 70% compared to last year.” /Telegraph/