A police chase and escape attempt turned into a horrific tragedy. A van carrying nine illegal immigrants crashed during a police chase near Bulgaria’s eastern Black Sea coast.
The accident occurred shortly before midnight on Thursday near the city of Burgas, killing six illegal immigrants, the AP news agency reported, citing local officials.
Border Police Chief Anton Zlatanov told a news conference that police tried to stop the van with Romanian registration plates.
He added that the van driver repeatedly disobeyed police orders and eventually tried to avoid the spike strips set up by the police. As a result, the driver lost control and the van overturned off the road and fell into a lake next to the highway. Six migrants died on the spot.
The injured driver and four others were given first aid at the scene and later taken to the hospital.
According to initial information, the dead migrants were Afghan citizens.
Bulgaria, a Balkan country of 6.5 million people, is a major route for migrants from the Middle East and Afghanistan to Europe. Few of these migrants plan to stay in the EU’s poorest member state. They mainly use Bulgaria as a transit corridor to Western countries.
Zlatanov said that 20 organized criminal groups involved in migrant smuggling have been dismantled in the past two years.
Stating that zero migration is not possible, he said, “We have been able to reduce migration pressure by about 70 percent compared to last year.”
