Road agency seeks investigation into the fire on Struma motorway

Bulgaria’s Road Infrastructure Agency on August 14 filed a complaint with the Prosecutor's office against the owner of the secondary raw material plant in Doupnitsa. The company's waste caused a huge fire on Struma motorway. The Eco-Inspectorate in Pernik stated that the company license could be revoked, and the Road Agency announced that they would file a financial claim against the owner for the damage to the motorway bridge structure.

Damage assessment and review continues. There will be an expert opinion at the end of the week. The opinion of the RIA is expected on Monday. By then, this section of Struma motorway will be closed to traffic. Motorists will be required to use the alternative route on the main E-79 road between Boboshevo road junction and Dupnitsa road junction.

Specialists from the Institute of Roads and Bridges at the RIA inspected the facility affected by the fire.

Eng. Juliana Bozhilova, Director of the Regional Road Administration in Kyustendil: ... There are damages on parts of the bridge structure, on columns, beams, bridges and drainage facilities that are on the motorway. The road surface, which is above, has no damage.

Prime Minister Boyko Borissov commented on the situation after the fire and said that those who caused the fire would be held responsible for the damage. He specified that the institutions will quickly deal with the situation and the traffic on Struma motorway will be restored.

The municipality of Dupnitsa said that they informed the road agency and the environmental inspectorate in Pernik last year about the accumulation of unregulated waste in the area of the motorway and the risk of fires. However, no institutions sent back a response.

Chief Commissioner Krasimir Shotarov, Director of Operations at the Directorate General of the Chief direrctorate “Fire Safety and Protection of the Population”: This is a normative act that regulates all infrastructure facilities along which there must be a service area and it must be clean.

The eco-inspection in Pernik said that this year they carried out an inspection and issued a recommendation for cleaning up the waste from the terrain.

The owner of the company, Kolyo Iliev said that when the motorway was built, the waste was there.

Measurements on the air quality showed no pollution in in the area.