Authorities in Bulgaria are continuing their investigation into a deadly accident in Burgas that claimed six lives and left four others injured after a high-speed chase involving a vehicle carrying illegal migrants ended in tragedy.
The incident occurred late Tuesday night on the Burgas ring road, when a Skoda Fabia carrying ten people, nine of whom were illegal border-crossers, plunged into Lake Vaya during a police pursuit. The driver, a Romanian national, was among the survivors.
The chase began near Kiten at around 9:20 p.m. after Border Police officers detected the car speeding at over 150 kilometers per hour. Despite repeated police signals to stop, the driver continued to evade authorities for 34 minutes, changing directions several times, including toward Sozopol before returning to Burgas.
Chief Commissioner Anton Zlatanov, Director of the Border Police, said multiple attempts were made to intercept the vehicle, including deploying spike strips.
However, the driver used another Bulgarian vehicle as a shield, lightly colliding with it, which made direct intervention dangerous. The pursuit ended when the Skoda veered off the road and plunged into the lake during a final police blockade attempt.
Emergency teams rescued the driver and three passengers, who were hospitalized in Burgas. Preliminary reports indicate that the survivors are from Afghanistan. Six passengers died at the scene. A second on-site inspection was scheduled for Wednesday morning to gather additional evidence.
Commissioner Zlatanov said the crash underscores a troubling rise in aggressive tactics used by migrant traffickers. While migration pressure has decreased by 70% compared to last year, incidents of reckless evasion have become more frequent. He noted that Afghan and Moroccan nationals remain the most common migrants intercepted, while crossings by Syrians have declined.
Over the past 18 months, Bulgarian authorities have dismantled between 15 and 20 organized criminal groups involved in smuggling migrants across the country’s borders. Zlatanov emphasized that Bulgarian police are acting within strict procedural limits to prevent casualties while maintaining public safety.
He also praised the coordination between police units during the chase, explaining that all teams switched to a unified radio frequency and followed an established protocol to minimize risks to civilians and officers alike.
As part of ongoing reforms, the Border Police are redistributing officers to high-pressure zones along the Turkish and North Macedonian borders. An additional 1,200 new officers are expected to join the force to strengthen operational capacity and prevent similar tragedies in the future.
Zlatanov concluded that while “zero migration is not possible due to global trends,” Bulgaria’s border authorities remain committed to reducing illegal crossings and dismantling the criminal networks behind migrant trafficking.
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