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Israeli rescue crews to begin evacuating wounded from Bulgaria as death toll rises | The Times of Israel.

Bulgarian PM says suicide bomber with American passport carried out attack; Hercules planes to be used to transport injured home

By Sam Ser and Joshua Davidovich July 19, 2012, 6:00 am Updated: July 19, 2012, 7:36 am

Israeli rescue teams flown to Bulgaria began evacuating wounded from the resort town of Bourgas Thursday morning, as reports emerged that the deadly attack on a bus of tourists was carried out by a man with a fake American passport.

The death toll in the bombing on a bus of Israelis at the airport in Bourgas rose in the early hours of Thursday as one of the seriously injured victims succumbed to their wounds. Six of the dead are Israeli, and the Bulgarian bus driver was also killed.

Two victims remain in serious condition at a hospital in the capital of Sofia. The rest of the 34 wounded are in a local hospital or still at the airport in Bourgas waiting to be flown home by Israeli rescue teams.

On Thursday morning, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said the attack was likely carried out by a suicide bomber who likely detonated as he boarded the bus. It was previously thought the bomb had been in a suitcase placed on the bus.

The suicide bomber is one of the eight dead, officials said.

The suicide bomber was reportedly carrying an American passport and a driver’s license from Michigan, both thought to be fake, the Sofia News Agency reported.

In security video, the Caucasian man is seen walking around the premises for at least an hour, dressed in sports attire, the agency reported.

The American security agencies FBI and CIA have joined the investigation into the attack, along with Israeli and Bulgarian officials.

Bourgas is a popular vacation spot among Israelis, especially teenagers. About 40 people were on the bus when the bomb ripped through it Wednesday afternoon.

A ZAKA emergency rescue and ritual burial team prepares for its flight to Bourgas, Bulgaria, on July 18, 2012. (photo credit: Yossi Zeliger/Flash90)

A member of the Magen David Adom crew in Bulgaria said the wounded tourists would be flown back to Israel for treatment.

A number of large Hercules planes are being used to begin returning the injured to Israel Thursday morning. Bulgaria has also announced an airbus plane owned by the government would be used to fly Israelis home.

“Our goal is to return all the Israelis home in a matter of hours,” one MDA official told Ynet news.

Other Israelis who had been on the flight along with the bombed passengers complained Thursday morning that they were being held in the terminal, without being allowed to return to Israel or enter Bulgaria.

“They aren’t organized,” one passenger told Israel Radio. “We just want to go to our hotel and have a rest and then return to Israel.”

Smoke rising from the Sarafovo Airport in Burgas, Bulgaria, after a terror attack on an Israeli tour bus, July 18, 2012. (photo credit: JTA/Burgasinfo)

Others caught in the attack, including some of whom were lightly wounded in the blast in a bus next to the one that exploded, have refused to leave the airport for their hotels or undergo treatment in Bulgaria, saying they would rather return home to be checked out, according to Ynet news.

Also Thursday morning, a number of vacationers in Bourgas began returning to Israel as flights out of the Black Sea town resumed.

The returning vacationers were not caught in the bombing at the Bourgas airport, but their scheduled return flights were delayed by the closure of commercial flights after the terror attack.

This entry was posted on July 19, 2012 at 8:44 AM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.