How much did the 45 lost lives of Macedonian citizens, who died in the tragic bus accident on the “Struma” highway, forty kilometers south of Sofia on the road to Blagoevgrad, cost? Whether the difference of about 50,035 cents per liter of diesel proved fatal for these people is perhaps the most horrible question that can be asked, but it should and must be answered, analyzes Pressing TV.

From the data known so far, it is clear that the arrangement to Istanbul cost 80 or 90 euros, depending on the choice of tourists whether they wanted to be accommodated in a four or five star hotel. One bus, without the two professional drivers, carried an average of 50 passengers. Or, the four buses carried a total of about 200 passengers. If you take an average of 80 euros for an arrangement, it turns out that the four full buses of “Besa Tours” carried 16,000 euros. Of course, this is not a net gain, as the cost of fuel, amortization, driver’s pay and other things should be deducted from the amount. However, special attention is paid to the fact that according to the initial information, which should of course be confirmed by the official investigation, jerry can of diesel fuel were transported in the “bus-torch”. The key question is whether the driver transported the canisters for himself or for the needs of the agency? And the answer to that question can be obtained from the drivers of the other three buses from the convoy, who can be checked if they did the same, the news portal writes.

According to simple maths done by the Bulgarian media, there is a difference in the price of diesel fuel in Turkey and in Bulgaria and Macedonia. Due to inflation and the plunging lira, a liter of diesel in Turkey costs 1.33 leva or somewhere around 65-66 cents, while in Bulgaria and Macedonia it costs 2.40 leva or about 1.20 euros. Which means that diesel in Turkey is almost twice cheaper than in Bulgaria and Macedonia.

This price difference makes trips to Istanbul almost 40% cheaper if most of the fuel is purchased in Turkey. Exactly that difference of 1.07 leva or about 50,035 cents per liter proved fatal for the lost 45 lives of Macedonian citizens, the text concludes.