site.btaPenultimate Group of Participants in Bulgaria’s Antarctic Expedition Departs from Chile to King George Island, Antarctica

The penultimate, fourth group of participants in Bulgaria’s 34th Antarctic Expedition departed on Saturday on two flights from Punta Arenas, Chile, to King George Island, Antarctica.

The first part of the group, led by the head of the Bulgarian Antarctic expeditions, Prof. Hristo Pimpirev, travelled aboard a Colombian Air Force Hercules C-130 aircraft. The group includes Flotilla Admiral Boyan Mednikarov, Capt. Prof. Miroslav Tsvetkov, journalist Maria Cherneva, camera operator Anna Andreeva, biotechnician Kiril Kandilarov, and writer Vasil Popov.

The second part of the group departed shortly afterward. It includes Assoc. Prof. Stoyan Georgiev of the Geological Institute at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS), Chief Assistant Snezhana Rusinova-Videva of the BAS Institute of Microbiology, Chief Assistant Gergana Georgieva from the Faculty at Physics at St Kliment Ohridski Sofia University, and Prof. Emil Stanev from Germany, as well as Greek researchers Dionysia Rigatou from the University of Athens and Eleni Kytinou from the Institute of Oceanography at the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research. The group also includes BTA special correspondent Simona-Alex Mihaleva and journalist Jivko Konstantinov.

The second part of the expedition travelled aboard an aircraft provided by the Turkish Antarctic Expedition, which has been cooperating with the Bulgarian Antarctic program for several years.

The flights had originally been scheduled for earlier dates but were cancelled due to strong winds and fog in the King George Island area.

The group departed from Sofia on January 24 and split into two en route to Punta Arenas. Some participants were expected to fly on January 28, but those flights were also cancelled due to adverse weather conditions near King George Island.

Once the group arrives on King George Island, the Bulgarian research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii (RSV 421) will transport them to the Bulgarian Antarctic Base on Livingston Island.

In the South Bay area of Livingston Island, an international team of scientists, supported by the expedition’s logistics team, is collecting samples for several research projects, which is the main phase of the 34th scientific expedition.

RSV 421 departed for Antarctica from Varna (on the Black Sea) on November 7. After a month-long voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, the ship arrived at the Argentine naval base in the city of Mar del Plata on December 13, 2025. BTA has had a national press club on board since 2022 and another on Livingston Island since February 2024.

The news pieces of the BTA special correspondents on RSV 421 and Antarctica are freely available in Bulgarian and English on the agency's website. They can be used free of charge by all media with reference to BTA.