Six migrants have died in eastern Bulgaria as their car plunged into a lake during a police chase. Three surviving migrants received first aid at the scene and were taken to hospital to receive further medical attention. The Romanian driver of the vehicle was arrested, according to the police.
The accident, in which three other migrants and their Romanian driver reportedly were injured, occurred late on Thursday night (November 06) near the port city of Burgas on the Black Sea, according to the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA).
Bulgaria's border police chief Anton Zlatanov told reporters the following day that the incident had occurred as police officials had repeatedly tried to stop a van with a Romanian licence plate, with the driver apparently refusing to comply.
"The police initially tried to stop the vehicle ... but the driver didn't heed them," he explained.
Zlatanov added that eventually, police attempted to use spike strips to intercept the van, which is when it crashed, skidding off the road and into the lake, which resulted in the six fatalities.
The nine migrants on board the vehicle are all believed to have entered the country illegally in hopes of reaching another part of Europe.
Officials said that preliminary data suggested that the ill-fated migrants had all come from Afghanistan.
Read AlsoMigrants deprived of their 'fundamental human rights' in Bulgarian detention centers
Many Afghans have been trying to reach Europe in recent months, as authorities in both Pakistan and Iran — two nations which host large numbers of Afghan refugees fleeing Taliban rule — have increasingly been clamping down on people staying illegally in their countries, often sending them back to Afghanistan with little to no prior notice.
Read Also'I have nothing left here': Syrians no longer protected in Bulgaria since the fall of Assad
Bulgaria: a Balkan nation rarely featured on migrants' paths
Bulgaria is one of the countries on the so-called Balkan route, from Turkey, Greece and then on to Western Europe. It has been an EU member since 2007.
The small country of 6.5 million people is located on the major route used by migrants from the Middle East and beyond to reach Europe; very few of those migrants actually plan to settle in Bulgaria, which remains the poorest member state of the EU.
Since 2015, Balkan countries including Bulgaria have become major transit nations for both refugees and migrants who are fleeing war, conflict, persecution but also poverty and economic challenges.
The vast majority of them have to resort to using criminal smuggling networks to help them get further westward into the heart of the EU.
Bulgaria's tactics to try and limit the influence of the smuggling networks, including the reported use of controversial pushbacks, however, has been decried as inhumane by various human rights groups.
Read AlsoDeaths at the border: NGOs accuse Bulgarian police of 'worst humanity'
Bulgaria's role in keeping migration at bay
Bulgaria is trying to help its European partners to keep migrants out of the bloc — in accordance with a 2016 deal signed with Turkey, according to which Turkish authorities are tasked with taking care of such migrants and stopping them from getting into the bloc in exchange for billions of euros.
Bulgaria directly borders Turkey, which is not part of the 27 members of the European Union.
Border police chief Zlatanov said that to this end, close to 20 organized criminal groups involved in migrant trafficking had been taken out of commission in the eastern European nation just over the past two years.
"(W)e have reduced migration pressure by about 70 percent compared with last year, he added, highlighting however, that the idea of achieving "zero migration" was not feasible.
Read AlsoBulgaria: 18 arrested suspected of smuggling people across southern border
with AP, AFP, Reuters