Transport Minister Petar Moutafchiev said on March 7 he would not sack Oleg Popov, chief executive of Bulgaria’s state railways BDZ, after the fire that killed nine people last week, despite telling Parliament earlier in the day that it was a logical thing to do.

“I will probably take such a decision but you have to let me decide when exactly,” Moutafchiev was quoted by Bulgarian news agency Focus as saying.

But in a statement released later in the day, Moutafchiev said that he would not succumb to populist moves, despite the pressure piled on him from different quarters.

After the fire on the Sofia – Kardam train, which happened near Cherven Brayg station, Moutfachiev said he was ready to resign if needed. Several days later he received the full support of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), which he is a member of.

Popov himself has said several times that he was ready to resign if asked to do so. Unlike Moutafchiev, the BSP showed little, if any, support for him.

The investigation into the causes of the fire is still underway and is expected to last around two months, Prosecutor-General Boris Velchev said on March 5.

The fire started at night in a couchette carriage, which had 35 people in it at the time, and then spread to a sleeping coach with 27 people. It lasted about 15 minutes but it was enough for nine people to lose their lives in the flames. Investigators are working on three main possible reasons for the fire: terrorist attack, accident and criminal misconduct. So far no one had assumed any kind of responsibility for the incident.