Bulgaria's Antarctic Mission Survivors Barely Make It to Chile

The Bulgarian Antarctic base on the Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands. Photo from Wikipedia

Nine researches from Bulgaria's 20th Antarctic Expedition have managed to reach South America alive and well after suffering tremendous setbacks on their way back, announced Nikola Petkov, head of the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute.

Petkov has revealed that on Friday, after waiting for two days for a calmer ocean and weather, the crew of the Hesperides, Spain's main Antarctic support vessel, decided to pick up the nine Bulgarian scientists from the Livingston Island, where the Antarctic bases of both Bulgaria and Spain are located, in order to transfer them to the King George Island so that the Bulgarians could make it to their flight to South America.

The first group of four Bulgarian scientists manages to reach the Spanish ship but the ruffled sea overturned the boat of the second group, which included the head of Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition Dr. Hristo Pimpirev.

This is the first time in 19 years that the Bulgarian boat, the Zodiac, got overturned by the waves, Petkov explained, speaking on Radio Focus on Saturday.

The Bulgarians just barely managed to swim back to the shore, while also saving the baggage with the research samples they had collected all throughout the brief Antarctica summer. They had to return to the base for three more hours before a second attempt to make it to the Spanish ship turned out successful.

Late Friday night, the 9 Bulgarian scientists reached the Chilean port Punta Arenas on a Brazilian military flight, and are expected to arrive in Sofia on February 18, 2012, via Rio Galegos, Buenos Ayres, and Rome.

Seven more Bulgarian scientists are still left at the St. Kliment Ohridski base on the Livingston Island; they will stay on till February 25 in order to conserve it for the Antarctica winter.

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