SOFIA, June 4 (Xinhua) -- At least nine illegal immigrants were killed when a minibus crashed in Bulgaria on Sunday before dawn, the Ministry of Interior said in a statement.
According to the statement, the minibus that carried 17 foreign citizens without identity documents, crashed on Trakia motorway near Pazardjik in the direction of Sofia.
Nine foreigners and the 16-year-old Bulgarian driver were killed in the accident. The driver did not have a driver's license, the statement said.
The surviving foreigners said they were from Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The cause of the accident is under investigation, the statement said.
Bulgaria is located on a direct route of refugee flows from Turkey to Central Europe. According to official data, during the first three months of 2017, Bulgarian law enforcement authorities arrested 256 foreigners trying to illegally enter the country from Turkey and 1,393 illegal immigrants trying to leave Bulgaria to central and western Europe.
