site.btaSearch for Bulgarian Mountaineer in Himalayas Discontinued

Sofia, May 16 (BTA) - The search for the missing Bulgarian mountaineer Boyan Petrov in the Himalayas has been discontinued. The news was reported by one of the participants in the rescue operation, Kiril Petkov, on his Facebook page on Wednesday. He was on the helicopter which scoured Mount Shishapangma one last time in search of Petrov, to no avail.

Petrov was last seen on May 3 while attempting to reach the summit of Shishapangma (8,027 m), the 14th highest mountain in the world. The Chinese authorities organized a large-scale search and rescue operation for him involving Nepalese helicopters.

News media have described Petrov as Bulgaria's most successful mountaineer. In 2017, he became the first Bulgarian to have reached ten 8,000-metre peaks. His disappearance and the subsequent search have been extensively covered by the press.