AMMAN — Jordan has expressed its condolences to Bulgaria over the victims of a traffic accident on the highway linking the capital Sofia with Burgas.

 

In a statement on Tuesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed the Kingdom’s solidarity with the Bulgarian government and people, extending its condolences to the families of the victims.

 

The ministry’s spokesperson Fouad Majali reaffirmed Jordan’s solidarity with Bulgaria over the incident and wished the injured a speedy recovery.

 

Twelve people died and dozens were injured on Tuesday in a mass pileup in thick fog on a motorway in southeastern Bulgaria, whose roads rank as the most dangerous in the EU, AFP reported.

 

Crashes snared around 50 cars and trucks heading in both directions of the highway linking the capital Sofia to the Black Sea city of Burgas, regional governor Georgi Chalakov told the BTA state news agency.

 

Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said in a statement that a sudden change in weather conditions was the main reason for the pileup.

 

Visibility was around 70-80 metres immediately before the incident, but dropped to approximately 10 metres within a short period, according to information available to the ministry.

 

"We are actively working on equipping the toll system gantries with display screens to warn drivers," he said.

 

The motorway section should have been closed early Tuesday, Bogdan Milchev, chairman of the Road Safety Institute NGO, told public radio station BNR, blaming the government.

 

Eleven people died at the scene, while another person died after being admitted to hospital, the health ministry said in a statement.

 

In total, 51 people were admitted to hospitals in nearby cities, with 13 of them critically injured, it added.