LETTER FROM WARSAW

On March 16, 1978, a Soviet-made Tupolev Tu-134 operated by the Bulgarian national airline Balkan Bulgarian Airlines, flying from Sofia to Warsaw, crashed near the Bulgarian village of Gabare, some 80 kilometers from Sofia. None of the 73 passengers, including 37 Poles, survived. Among those on board were cyclists, young gymnasts, their coaches, a few tourists and the then Polish deputy culture minister, Janusz Wilhelmi.

Coffins filled with sand were delivered to the victims' families, both in Bulgaria and Poland. Relatives were never summoned to the morgue, and were not allowed to see the remains of the plane, which were carefully collected by authorities. Even after the fall of the Bulgarian Communist regime in 1990, the case was hushed up. Since then, the families have always been regarded as a little bit deranged.

But there are new developments. Journalist Bozhidar Bozhkov's in-depth investigation, published in April 2024 in the Bulgarian monthly Biograph, and recently picked up by the Polish press, is giving the victims' relatives renewed hope.

"In view of the new information (...), we are asking for your help in clarifying the causes of the accident. There are only four years left until the case becomes time-barred. We feel that justice has not been done," pleaded the families in a letter addressed to the head of Polish diplomacy, Radoslaw Sikorski, and Justice Minister Adam Bodnar, published in the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza.

In 2021, these same families had asked the Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw to open an investigation into a communist crime committed by the Bulgarian authorities. To no avail.

Brief press releases

In the aftermath of the 1978 tragedy, the Bulgarian and Polish Communist authorities were careful not to dwell on the circumstances of the tragedy, issuing only brief press releases through the propaganda-controlled media. "Sixty-six passengers and seven crew members were the only official information about the people on board that the Bulgarian Communist government disclosed to the media," wrote Bozhkov in his article, adding that the Polish side went so far as to publish the names of the deceased.

The Bulgarian investigation quickly concluded that it was an accident: an electrical failure followed by a fire on board. The passengers allegedly tried to extinguish it, which would explain why the aircraft suddenly veered first towards Yugoslavia, then a second time towards the north. The control tower was unable to establish contact, and the plane disappeared from the radar. The black boxes were deemed unusable. The case was quickly closed and, as if to buy the families' silence, compensation was paid out in record time.

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