site.btaFourth Group of 32nd Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition Departs from Sofia

The fourth group of the 32nd Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition departed from Sofia Airport on Friday, said Bulgarian Antarctic Institute Chair and head of the expedition Christo Pimpirev.

The group includes Pimpirev; doctor Sevdalina Mihailova; geologists Docho Dochev and Lyubomir Metodiev, who will work on a paleontological project, Iglika Trifonova and Lyubov Kostova, who are a part of an educational project, and journalist Maria Cherneva.

Once they arrive in Buenos Aires, the group will split up. The geologists will continue to Santiago de Chile and Punta Arenas, from where they will fly to King George Island on a flight chartered by the Portuguese Antarctic Programme. King George Island is adjacent to Livingston Island where the Bulgarian Antarctic Station is located.

The rest of the group in Buenos Aires will be joined by Bulgaria’s Ambassador to Argentina Stoyan Mihailov, Admiral Boyan Mednikarov, head of the Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy, and BTA Director General Kiril Valchev. They will fly to Rio Gallegos to catch a bus to Punta Arenas, where a flight chartered by the Portuguese Antarctic Programme will take them to King George Island.

All participants will cover the last leg of the route between King George and Livingston on board the Bulgarian naval research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii (RSV 421) which has been sailing around the archipelago of the South Shetland Islands since the beginning of the year.

As reported by BTA, the first group of the 32nd Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition departed on December 27, 2023, for Ushuaia, Argentina.

The second group left Sofia on December 29, 2023, while the third departed on January 7.

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During the 32nd Bulgarian expedition to Antarctica, which started on November 8, 2023, the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) is publishing interviews with Antarctic researchers. The Bulgaria-Antarctica BTA's Log again provides coverage of the voyage of the Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii to Antarctica and back and its stay there, as it did during the 31st expedition between December 27, 2022 and May 2, 2023. Back then, only BTA had a correspondent, Daily News Editor Konstantin Karagyozov, who covered the 127-day expedition with text, video and photos during the entire voyage (including across the Atlantic in both directions) and throughout the stay in Antarctica. In June 2023, BTA published in Bulgarian and in English an issue of its LIK magazine "To Antarctica and Back under the Bulgarian Flag" dedicated to the historic expedition.

Again, all of BTA's information on the Bulgarian scientific research in Antarctica and the support provided by the Bulgarian naval research vessel, as well as on the other activities at the Bulgarian Antarctic Base, will be available to all media outlets in Bulgarian and in English on BTA's website in the Bulgaria - Antarctica: BTA's Log section.

BTA has a National Press Club on board the ship and is planning to open a National Press Club at the Bulgarian Antarctic Base on Livingston Island.