September 20 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's parliament said on Thursday that it has endorsed the nominations of Mladen Marinov, Rossen Zhelyazkov and Petya Avramova as ministers of the interior, transport and regional development, respectively.
The National Assembly also accepted the resignation of Valentin Radev, Ivaylo Moskovski and Nikolay Nankov, who headed the three ministries before the vote, the parliament said in a statement.
Prior to their endorsement as ministers in the coalition government led by prime minister Boyko Borissov, Mladen Marinov was secretary general of the ministry of the interior, Petya Avramova was member of parliament, while Rossen Zhelyazkov was head of the telecommunications regulator.
Radev, Moskovski and Nankov submitted their resignations last month after a bus crash, allegedly caused by a faulty road repair, took the lives of 17 people and left dozens injured, sparking a public outcry over the awarding of procurement contracts for infrastructure works and traffic safety.
"We carry the political responsibility," Valentin Radev said back then, adding that there are many more people responsible for the accident but that he and his peers had obviously failed to organise the work in the respective ministries well.
The reasons for the accident, which happened on the road connecting the capital Sofia to the town of Svoge in northwestern Bulgaria on August 25, are still under investigation.