coach in which nine people died in the February 28 fire.
Photo: REUTERS
The fire on the Sofia-Kardam train on February 28 that cost nine lives and prompted national mourning has again brought to the fore the serious problems plaguing Bulgarian State Railways, BDZ.
Bulgaria was supposed to celebrate 130 years since its liberation on March 3, but festivities were scaled down because of the deaths in the fire. The accident is still being investigated, but given the state of BDZ, it seemed that a disaster had been a matter of time.
The fire started at about midnight on the train from Sofia to Kardam on the border with Romania, in the Dobrich region. As the train was entering the town of Cherven Bryag, the fire started in a couchette carriage, which had 35 people in it at the time, and then spread to a sleeping coach with 27 people.
Initial reports on the morning of February 29 said that at least three people had died, with four spending the night in hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning. Later in the day, the death toll rose to eight people and by March 4, the final tally rose to nine five women and four men, among them Rasho Rashev, the director of Bulgarias National Archaeological Institute.
Bulgarias Cabinet declared March 5 a day of nationwide mourning for the victims of the fire, with flags at half-mast and all celebrations cancelled. The incident was the deadliest train-related incident in Bulgaria since 1992, according to BDZ.
The company has been operating at a loss for more than a decade now, and even Government subsidies have done little to improve the state of its equipment, since most of that money has sunk without a trace in the companys bloated payroll.
Like many other socially sensitive companies, its privatisation has been postponed for years, as no prospective suitors willing to take over the company and invest heavily without laying off thousands were found. And while cabinet after cabinet avoided disturbing the wasps nest, carriages and train engines fell into disrepair.
Prosecutors were exploring several possible leads, including a terrorist attack and arson, but by March 5 it appeared that a number of factors in combination could have been the cause.
BDZ safety chief Kiril Angelov, quoted by Bulgarian language news website mediapool.bg, said that six of the eight heaters in the carriage where the fire started had been replaced just days earlier. If the heating system of the carriage was not working properly, it may have provided the spark for the fire, which then ignited inflammable substance in someones luggage, according to a theory supported by witness accounts. The fire was further stoked by the rapid circulation of air in the moving train.
Unfortunate circumstances may be blamed in this case, but it was just an illustration of the shambolic state of BDZ. While Transport Minister Petar Moutafchiev offered to resign in the aftermath of the accident, it seemed clear that finding a lasting solution to BDZs financial woes should be a bigger priority than finding a scapegoat.
The problems can be solved, but will require a lot of money, which the Government does not have. At the same time, it is loath to raise train ticket prices or lay off any personnel, fearing public backlash with less than 16 months left before the next parliamentary elections. Under European Union state aid rules, Bulgaria cannot ask prospective buyers to keep BDZs payroll unchanged, which makes privatisation unpalatable to politicians. In all, prospects of a solution that could stave off another disaster seemed dim.
