All 45 victims of Macedonian-registered bus crash identified

All 45 victims of the November 23 bus crash on the Struma Motorway have been identified through DNA analysis, Deputy Prosecutor Genera Borislav Sarafov, who is also Director of the National Investigation Service, told BTA on Thursday.

The Macedonian-registered bus, taking a group of tourists back home from Istanbul to Skopje, crashed and caught fire on the Struma Motorway some 40 km southwest of Sofia shortly after 2:00 a.m. on November 23. Forty-five persons on board, including the two drivers and all but seven passengers, most of them nationals of the Republic of North Macedonia, were killed in the accident.

The seven survivors were treated at an emergency hospital in Sofia and have already been taken back to their home country.

The remains of the victims were released by the supervising prosecutor on December 1 to representatives of the government of North Macedonia so that they can be taken to the victims' families, said Sarafov. The remains will be flown to that country by a military aircraft provided by the Bulgarian government.