On 10 December 2016, a freight train derailed, exploded and caught fire in the village of Hitrino in Shumen Province, Bulgaria, killing at least seven people and injuring 29 others.

At 05:37 local time (03:37 UTC) on 10 December 2016,[2] a Bulmarket freight train travelling from Burgas to Ruse derailed in Hitrino, Shumen Province, Bulgaria.

The train had changed direction of travel in Karnobat and Sindel, and had passed through Aytos, Velichkovo, Dalgopol, Provadiya, Kaspichan, Pliska, Velino.

Two of the wagons, which were carrying propane-butane and propylene, struck a power line pole, exploded and caught fire,[3][4] engulfing at least fifty buildings,[5] one of which collapsed, trapping several children.

[6] The owner of Bulmarket DM, Stanko Stankov, expressed his intention to involve an international team of railway incident experts from France, Germany and the Czech Republic to execute an independent investigation into the case.

On that basis, the police authorities guarding the perimeter denied access to the crash site to technical experts involved by the train operator.

[14] According to ammunition experts, the chain of events led to an equivalent of an oversized thermobaric weapon with blasting energy four to five times greater than the TNT-equivalent.