2024-07-29 06:41:29
For me, there was inactivity and lack of organization. This was explained by Kiril Todorov, who arrived at the scene minutes after the first explosions. About first aid to the injured, the ability to keep cool in a situation of great shock and the work of the first teams on the ground, he tells his story about the explosion in the fireworks warehouse that claimed 4 lives.
“I want to first express my sincere condolences to the relatives of the deceased. I was in Sofia, my friend who lives next to the Elin Pelin Station called me, visibly worried and stuttering, that there was some kind of fire there. He called me at 6:17 p.m., and I was already at the property at 6:40 p.m., and the fire and fireworks were visible from the highway,” Kiril Todorov told bTV.
He has a house which is the first on the line between Elin Pelin Station and Elin Pelin. “There was a traffic jam on the bridge that you go over, I’m not sure from the adrenaline if there were any police – there must have been. With many of my neighbors, we stood and observed directly not on the road, where other people are, but inside the field, exactly perpendicular to the road,” he says.
At first, Kiril Todorov was not very worried about the explosions, until he heard the explosions that followed.
“The warehouses and Elin Pelin Station are not separated by anything at all. They are a field that, if it starts burning, can easily reach the village. I leave by car parallel to the main road, drive through the field – the road is absolutely passable with a car. But there was no one on the road – no police, no ambulances, I guess it was around 7:00 a.m.,” he added.
“I see the fire in the field while I’m driving and I decide to go ahead and hope that somewhere there will be fire brigades. There was serious smoke. Then I turned off the road and saw two black objects – I guessed what they were. Opposite me was a group of masked firefighters – no cars, but on foot, at least 4 people. The two black objects were lying on the ground, the firemen went to them – it turned out to be a man and a woman, the docent stood up – he was mobile, I exchanged a few words with the firemen while I was standing in the car and we agreed that I would put them in the car and carried them somewhere. The docent got into the car, and the lady was taken out on a stretcher,” Kiril Todorov also recalls.
He also says that he did not talk to the docent in the car, thus trying to protect himself and him.