site.btaFifth Group of 33rd Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition Departs from Sofia

The fifth group of the 33rd Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition departed Tuesday from Sofia Airport on a flight to Rome, Prof. Christo Pimpirev, the head of the Bulgarian Antarctic expeditions and chairman of the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute, told BTA.

From Rome, the group is scheduled to continue to Buenos Aires, Santiago, Punta Arenas and then on to King George Island on a flight operated by the Portuguese polar program PROPOLAR. There, the Bulgarian research ship Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii (RSV 421) will be waiting for them to take them to the Bulgarian Antarctic base on Livingston Island.

The group includes Prof. Christo Pimpirev, Sofia University Rector Prof. Georgi Valchev, Assoc. Prof. Yuri Kuchev, Kremena Georgieva, a representative of Kaufland, Kiril Kandilarov from Kandilarov laboratories, Lyubov Kostova, Kalin Mutafchiev from the Ministry of Education and Science, a film crew consisting of Yuliana Chalakova, Feimi Daut, Wolfgang Knopfler, and Danail Vuchkov, Elena Georgieva, journalist Zhivko Konstantinov, and representatives of the Natural History Museum in Plovdiv - Kristiyan Vladov and Stefan Kyurkchiev. In South America, they will be joined by Prof. Boyan Mednikarov from the Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy and Alexander Nedyalkov.

RSV 421 departed from Varna on November 7, 2024, for its third expedition to Antarctica and, after nearly two months of sailing, reached Livingston Island on December 28. The Bulgarian Antarctic base St. Kliment Ohridski was opened for the new polar season on November 23, 2024.

The Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) has a National Press Club on board the ship and, for the third consecutive year, is sending a correspondent to Antarctica. Reports from BTA's Milena Ostrovska are freely accessible in the special thematic section, available in both Bulgarian and English.