site.btaGroup of Participants from 32nd National Antarctic Expedition, Led by Prof. Christo Pimpirev, Returning to Bulgaria on Wednesday

A group of participants from the 32nd National Antarctic Expedition is returning on Wednesday, February 21, at Sofia Airport, the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute announced on Tuesday.

The group returning to Bulgaria includes the head of the expedition and director of the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute and the National Centre for Polar Research, by Prof. Christo Pimpirev, marine geologist Assoc. Dr. Raina Hristova, geologist Assoc.Prof Kalin Naydenov, electrical engineers Krassimir Krastev, Lyubov Kostova, journalists Maria Cherneva (Bulgarian National Television) and Marina Velikova (Bulgarian National Radio), cook Stanko Georgiev and the field assistants-alpinists Kiril Doskov and Assoc.Prof. Doychin Boyanov.

This was the second a successfully completed second polar mission of the Bulgarian research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii (RSV 421), said Pimpirev on February 10, noting that among the greatest achievements of the expedition was the construction of a scientific laboratory, for which 80 tonnes of materials were transported.

The 12 scientific projects implemented under the National Programme for Polar Research have also been completed. Pimpirev also noted that the scientists worked in quite difficult conditions, in an unfavourable sea and in an icy environment.

“We also supported many foreign expeditions,” said Prof. Hristo Pimpirev and added that at that time a Turkish scientist continued to work at the Bulgarian base. Portuguese scientists, one scientist from Great Britain, Bulgarian scientists worked in a Turkish expedition. The Bulgarian research vessel helped the Spanish polar programme immensely, by transporting materials for their bases, as well as in opening a field camp on the Bayes peninsula, where, in addition to ten Spaniards, two Bulgarian paleontologists also work, added Pimpirev.

Pimpirev noted the many surprises that set this expedition apart from others, including example the rescue of a sailing yacht in distress on the way out in the Beagle Channel, discovering wreckage of an Argentine plane that crashed 48 years ago which was handed over of the Argentine Navy and receiving gratitude from the relatives of the 14 Argentines who died in the crash, etc.

He said that with the RSV 421, Bulgaria participated extremely successfully in the entire international programme for studying the continent.

“We are a respected polar nation” .“Everyone looks at us with respect and admiration, because many of these nations, when they discovered continents, we did not exist as a country, and now we provide them with help and are absolutely equal to them,” said Pimpirev before the departure of the Bulgarian ship from Antarctica.

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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.