At least 45 people, including 12 children, died as a bus carrying mostly North Macedonian tourists crashed in flames on a highway in western Bulgaria hours before daybreak on Tuesday, officials said.

Seven people who leapt from the burning bus were rushed to the Pirogov Emergency Hospital in the Bulgarian capital Sofia and were in stable condition, hospital staff said.

Bulgaria’s interior ministry said it is the most deadly bus accident in the Balkan country’s history.

The cause of the accident was unclear but the bus appeared to have hit a highway barrier either before or after it caught fire, Bulgarian officials said.

Source: VOV5