Bulgaria's RSV 421 Arrives in Mar del Plata

The Bulgarian military research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii (NAVAL RSV 421) arrived in Mar del Plata on Friday. The Argentinian port is the ship's second stopover on her historic first voyage to Livingston Island in support of the 31st Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition.

The crew was given a formal welcomed by a military band.

The official guests included Flotilla Admiral Boyan Mednikarov, Rector of the Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy in Varna (on the Black Sea), Bulgaria's Ambassador to Argentina Stoyan Mihaylov, and Rear Admiral Marcelo Tarapov, Director General of Education and Preparation of the Argentine Navy and participant in 12 polar expeditions to Antarctica, as well as scientists from the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute.

In Mar del Plata RSV 421 will refuel and restock, and the crew will be joined by researchers of the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute and logistical workers.

There is serious construction work to be done at the Bulgarial Antarctic base as a new research lab has to be built.

As part of the polar mission, RSV 421 is taking food, cement, construction components, prefab panels, a waste water treatment plant and an office container, among other things, for the base.