Bulgaria's floods death toll rises to 4

A man looks at a damaged camping trailer, washed away to the shore following severe flooding in Tsarevo, on the Black Sea coast, Bulgaria, September 6, 2023. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov

SOFIA (Reuters) - Two bodies more were recovered in Bulgaria's Black Sea coastal area on Wednesday, bringing to four the death toll from floods triggered by torrential rains, Bulgarian News Agency BTA reported.

The bodies of a local judge, her daughter -- a veterinarian --, and a man were found in a submerged car that was washed away from a bridge into the sea when the river overflowed, regional police chief Emil Pavlov told journalists in Tsarevo.

The fourth victim was a man who was also swept away as he was attempting to cross the same bridge on foot, Pavlov said.

It was not immediately clear whose bodies were recovered on Wednesday.

A state of emergency was declared in Tsarevo municipality on Tuesday.

At a nearby Black Sea tourist resort on Arapya beach, cars and caravans were washed away by torrential rain and strong winds.

"For about 20 hours, it was pouring rain with a headwind, non stop – that was the reason why the river overflowed and caused all this damage. It swept cars and car trailers into the sea," local resident Doctor Plamen Petrov told Reuters TV.

(Reporting by Stoyan Nenov in Sofia and Ivana Sekularac in Belgrade; Editing by Sandra Maler)