The victims had been walking up the Bakadzhik peak to attend a traditional Ascension Day (Spasovden) feast and fair held on the summit.

Around 9:15 AM local time the bus, a Chavdar 11M4 operated by the Yambol transport company MCI Slavi Slavov, crashed into them while descending from the Alexander Nevsky Memorial Church located at the summit The bus had been declared roadworthy on 12 May.

Twenty people were injured, four initially in critical condition due to head trauma.

[3] President Georgi Parvanov and Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev changed their schedules and visited the scene of the accident.

Gospodinov died in prison a few months later, while Slavov absconded until his January 2018 capture.