The Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinates activities related to dealing with the consequences of bus accident in Bulgaria in which 45 citizens of Northern Macedonia were killed, together with the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry. The process of identification of the victims is ongoing, and after its completion, an organized procedure for transferring the bodies of the deceased will follow, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs Bujar Osmani.
– I do not know if tragedies can be measured in size but today is a really sad day. I believe that today we are all living one of the saddest days in the recent history of the country, said Osmani tonight at a joint press conference in the Government with the Ministers of Interior, Oliver Spasovski and of Transport and Communications, Blagoj Bochvarski.
During his visit to Sofia this morning, Osmani informed that they had established direct lines of cooperation on several levels with the Bulgarian authorities regarding the accident, in accordance with the agreed directions. A working group was immediately activated at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to coordinate activities related to dealing with the consequences of this great tragedy, which includes the most experienced diplomats and consuls from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
-During the day we enabled the change of the code protocols for the citizens, ie the members of the families who needed to travel to Sofia to travel without restrictions from the code protocols. to all the dead, but also to the injured who I had the opportunity to visit today and talk about their health and their impressions of the accident. I instructed to send two experienced diplomats who are already in Sofia, which increases the human capacity of our embassy in Sofia in order to be able to offer assistance to citizens during the process of identifying the victims of this tragedy, said Osmani.
He announced that tomorrow they will continue with the coordination activities according to the dynamics agreed with the colleagues from Sofia.
-Judicial institutions are in direct contact regarding the completion of the identification process through DNA analysis. As the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we have opened lines for rapid exchange of information in order to coordinate the activities of the relatives of the victims for the identification process. After the completion of the identification process, an organized procedure for transfer of the bodies of the deceased will follow, which will be coordinated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, which has undertaken the obligation to coordinate the other institutions with them in Sofia. said Osmani.
– Whatever we do today, we can not compensate for the loss or cover the grief, 45 of our fellow citizens, children, women, husbands, wives are no longer with us. What we will do as MFA is to provide dignity to the families in these most difficult moments for them in order to get the right information, identification and dignified transfer of the remains here from Sofia, added the Minister.