By chance, all government members survived. The monarch, Tsar Boris III, was not in the church, as he was attending the funerals of those killed in the attempt on his own life in the Arabakonak pass in Stara Planina. Among the victims were General Kalin Naydenov (Minister of War during World War I); Stefan Nerezov, commander of the Bulgarian Army at Dojran; General Ivan Popov, General Grigor Kyurkchiev, then-Mayor of Sofia Paskal Paskalev, as well as another governor, the chief of police, and three deputies.