site.btaTwo Male Bodies Found in Ship's Hold at Burgas Port

Two male bodies were found Monday in a cargo hold of a ship docked at the port of Burgas, Captain Zhivko Petrov, Director of the Burgas Maritime Administration, told BTA on Tuesday. According to him, the men were not part of the ship’s crew, nor were they port employees.

Preliminary information indicates that one of the men is a Bulgarian citizen, while the identity of the second has not yet been established.

The bodies were found inside the cargo hold of a ship, which had not been processed. The ship arrived from Peru carrying a cargo of copper concentrate.

In the hold, the copper concentrate oxidizes and absorbs oxygen from the air, creating an environment where breathing is impossible.

"The question remains what these two men were doing there," Captain Petrov said. His guess is that they boarded the ship illegally.

“This is not an accident related to navigation, nor is it a work-related incident. There is something else going on here, probably criminal — I don’t want to speculate, but it seems they were searching for something inside,” the Director of the Burgas Maritime Administration said.

So far, there is no official information from the prosecutor’s office in the coastal city.