A man from Afghanistan has been shot dead near the border with Turkey after being hit by a ricochet from a warning shot fired by border police, Bulgarian authorities said Friday.
Interior Ministry chief of staff Georgi Kostov said that the incident occurred around 10 p.m. Thursday near the southern city of Sredets.
"A group of 54 people, aged between 20 and 30 - all from Afghanistan - was intercepted by a patrol of two border guards and a police officer after crossing into Bulgarian territory," Kostov told reporters Friday morning.
"One of my colleagues used his personal weapon and fired," Kostov said. As a result of a ricochet, he said, one of the group was injured and later died from his wounds.
The other migrants were detained and taken into custody while an investigation into the case was launched. The men claimed they were from Afghanistan but carried no identification documents.
On learning of the case, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov left the meeting of European Union leaders in Brussels and returned to Bulgaria.
Boris Cheshirkov, the Bulgarian representative of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, says in the past three years some 3,100 migrants have died while attempting to reach the European Union, but the incident at the Bulgarian-Turkish border on Thursday was the first case of a fatal shooting on the borders of the EU.
"We are deeply shocked and regret the fatal incident," Cheshirkov said. "We are convinced that barriers, fences and police forces cannot solve the problems of people who are in a desperate situation."