site.btaUPDATED Bulgarian Polar Explorers Travelling to Livingston Island Arrive in Punta Arenas

Bulgarian polar explorers travelling to the Bulgarian base on Livingston Island, led by expedition head Prof. Christo Pimpirev, arrived at the airport in Chile’s southernmost city of Punta Arenas, the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute said on Thursday.

On January 30, they will continue their journey to the Ice Continent on a Colombian Air Force Hercules C-130 aircraft to King George Island, where they will be met by the Bulgarian research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii (RSV 421).

The group includes Flotilla Admiral Boyan Mednikarov, Capt. Prof. Miroslav Tsvetkov of the Naval Academy in Varna, Bulgarian National Television journalist Maria Cherneva and camera operator Anna Andreeva, biotechnician Kiril Kandilarov, and writer Vasil Popov. Speaking to the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA), Pimpirev said that the flight may be postponed until January 31 due to strong winds and fog in the area of the island.

The group, led by Prof. Pimpirev, is part of the fourth and penultimate group of the 34th Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition, which departed from Sofia on January 24.

Meanwhile, the first group, which arrived in Punta Arenas several days earlier, is still waiting for suitable conditions for its flight to King George Island, carried out in cooperation with the Turkish Antarctic Expedition. The flight had been scheduled for Wednesday but was cancelled due to strong winds in the area of the island. This group includes Chief Assistant Prof. Gergana Georgieva of the Faculty of Physics at Sofia University, Prof. Emil Stanev from Germany, as well as Greek scientists Dionysia Rigatou of the University of Athens and Eleni Kytinou of the Institute of Oceanography at the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Bulgarian News Agency special correspondent Simona-Alex Mihaleva, and journalist Jivko Konstantinov.

Prof. Pimpirev noted that Antarctic researchers - both Bulgarian and foreign - are often forced to wait for up to a week in Punta Arenas until weather conditions on King George Island become suitable for safe flights and aircraft landings.