Bulgaria Commemorates Israeli Victims of 2012 Burgas Bus Bombing

Jerusalem, 19 July, 2024 (TPS) -- BURGAS (BTA) A ceremony at Burgas Sarafovo Airport on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast Thursday commemorated the victims of a bombing perpetrated there on July 18, 2012.

A suicide bomber on  a bus killed five five Israeli tourists and their Bulgarian bus driver. Another 35 people were injured in the attack. Israeli and Bulgarian authorities blamed the attack on Hezbollah.

The commemoration was held near the scene of the attack, where a monument stands.

It proceeded under tight security. The area was cordoned off. Snipers were involved in the security scheme.

The ceremony was attended by the Ambassador of the State of Israel to Bulgaria, Yosef Levi Sfari, Israel’s Honorary Consul in Burgas Orlin Mandov, Burgas Regional Governor Maria Neikova, Burgas Mayor Dimitar Nikolov, Sofia’s Military Medical Academy Director Ventsislav Mutafchiiski, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, who was minister of interior at the time of the bus bombing, prosecutors, Burgas Sarafovo Airport officials, public figures, politicians, members of bereaved families and representatives of the Jewish community, among others. The father of Mustafa Kisyov, the deceased bus driver, was also there.

The ceremony started with a minute of silence for the victims and floral tributes.

Ambassador Sfari said: “At the moment of the fatal explosion, Bulgaria, a peace-loving nation, joined a growing family of nations which had fallen victim to terrorist acts. Every country hopes and wishes that this moment never comes – until terrorists decide otherwise.” The diplomat said no words can express the pain and fill the emptiness in the hearts of the bereaved.

The suicide bomber was identified as Lebanese-French citizen Mohamad Hassan El-Husseini. In 2020, a Bulgarian court sentenced accomplices Lebanese-Australian Meliad Farah and Lebanese-Canadian Hassan El Hajj Hassan in absentia to life in prison.