site.btaFirst Group of Researchers from 32nd Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition Head to Ushuaia on Dec. 27

The first group of the 32nd Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition departs from Sofia Airport to Argentina's Ushuaia on Wednesday, Prof Christo Pimpirev, Chairman of the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute, told BTA on Tuesday. The scientists are expected to arrive in the afternoon of December 28. Together with a team of builders who are already there, they are planned to leave for the Bulgarian Antarctic base on Livingston Island onboard the Bulgarian naval research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii (RSV 421) from the port of Ushuaia.   

The ship is expected to reach Livingston Island around New Year's Eve, Prof Pimpirev specified. The main task there will be scientific research as well as the construction of a new laboratory block, the foundations of which were laid by the 31st Antarctic Expedition.

On the first group are Bulgarian Antarctic base commander Kamen Nedkov, Dr Atanas Peltekov, electrical engineer Rosen Stefanov, mechanics Konstantin Nedev and Vladimir Gigov, logisticians Damyan Paunov and Alexander Naydenov, boat guide Elka Vassileva, builder Marcho Paunov, cook Stanko Georgiev, hydrobiologist Eliza Uzunova, biologist Lyubomir Kenderov, marine geologist Raina Hristova, and engineers Peter Sapundzhiev and Vahan Petev.

On the team of builders are Kiril Zhechev, Nikolay Ivanov, Todor Todorov, Valentin Alexandrov, Damyan Morandov, Svetlin Nikolchev, and Nevyan Simeonov.  

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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.