A dense fog in Bulgaria led to several highway car crashes, killing at least 12 people, according to multiple outlets.
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A1, the highway connecting Sofia, the country's capital, and Burgas, near the Black Sea, became shrouded in heavy fog on Tuesday, Nov. 10, around 7 AM, leading to two pileups, the Associated Press and Deutsche Welle reported.
Health Minister Katya Ivkova said that ten people died at the scene and two others died en route to the hospital, the outlet reported. Ivkova said that 48 people were hospitalized in the low-visibility incident.
Roughly 86 vehicles were involved in the highway crash, including several trucks, the AP reported.
Drivers Get Trapped Under Cars After Deadly Highway Crash
Chief Inspector ?Todor Mishinev from the Yambol Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs ?told a local television station that people were still trapped in their cars at the time of speaking.
"Right now, the priority is rescue operations. Once they are completed, the procedural and investigative actions will be carried out," he said.
An unidentified driver told the AP that the dense fog caused many drivers to stop.
"I stopped too, roughly alongside the bus," the driver told the outlet. "Then a red truck slammed into us from behind. I could tell the driver wasn't braking, but the truck just kept coming."
The driver said that he was traveling with a passenger during the pileup.
"The impact sent us crashing into the guardrail, and we hit another car as well," he continued, according to the AP. "We barely managed to get out of the vehicle when several more pile-ups occurred behind us."
Police have launched an investigation into the highway crashes.
Crashes caused by low visibility is a global occurrence.
The US Department of Transportation says over 38,700 vehicle crashes occur in fog annually.
Such crashes lead to over 600 deaths and 16,000 injuries each year, the agency stated.
Safety Driving Tips For Navigating Fog
The general rule of thumb is to avoid driving in fog or low-visibility environments.
The National Weather Service published a list of driving safety tips for when one must drive through fog, including:
- Make your vehicle visible to others both ahead of you and behind you by using your low-beam headlights and taillights.
- Never use high-beam lights, which cause glare and make it more difficult to see.
- Leave plenty of distance between you and the vehicle in front of you to account for sudden stops or changes in the traffic pattern
