site.btaFifth Group of 33rd Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition to Leave for Antarctica

The fifth group of the 33rd Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition will leave early on Tuesday morning from Sofia airport on a flight to Rome, said Prof. Christo Pimpirev, head of Bulgarian Antarctic expeditions and Chair of the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute.

The group consists of Christo Pimpirev himself, Prof. Prof. Georgi Valchev - Rector of Sofia University, Assoc. Prof. Yuri Kuchev, Kremena Georgieva - representative of "Kaufland", Kiril Kandilarov from "Kandilarov" laboratories, Lyubov Kostova, Kalin Mutafchiev from the Ministry of Education and Science, film crew - Yuliana Chalakova, Femi Daut, Wolfgang Knopfler and Danail Vuchkov, Elena Georgieva, journalist Zhivko Konstantinov and representatives of the Natural History Museum in Plovdiv - Kristian Vladov and Stefan Kyurkchiev.

Prof. Boyan Mednikarov from Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy and Alexander Nedyalkov will be joining the group in South America.

Their route is Sofia - Rome - Buenos Aires - Santiago - Punta Arenas. From Punta Arenas the group will be transported to King George Island by a flight of the Portuguese polar program PROPOLAR. The Bulgarian naval research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii (RSV 421) will be waiting for them there to transport them to the Bulgarian Antarctic base the St Kliment Ohridski Bulgarian Antarctic Base on Livingston Island.

The RSV 421 departed from Varna on its third Antarctic expedition on November 7, 2024, and arrived at Livingston Island on December 28. The St Kliment Ohridski Bulgarian Antarctic Base on Livingston Island opened for the new polar season on November 23, 2024.

BTA has a national press club on the vessel and at the Bulgarian Antarctic base. This is the third year in a row that BTA has sent a correspondent to Antarctica. This year's correspondent is Milena Ostrovska, who arrived at the base on January 17. Her reports can be accessed free in English at Bulgaria-Antarctica BTA's Log on BTA's website and can be used for free by all media with attribution to BTA.