Military servicemen help people affected by the overflowing Copiapo river, in Copiapo, Chile, 25 March 2015. Photo: EPA
All 198 Bulgarians working on the construction of a photovoltaic power system in the region of the Atacama desert in Chile, who were affected by the floods that hit the area, are safe.
This was announced by the owner of the Blagoevgrad-based firm Ivan Chapov in an interview for Darik radio on Thursday.
The situation is slowly normalising after torrential rains caused floods in the northern part of Chile, where the Bulgarians are working.
Chapov said that the rainfall has stopped, the water continues to drain and the authorities have started clearance of the streets.
In his words, the Bulgarian workers were not directly threatened by the flood as they were at their lodgings.
The entrepreneur from Blagoevgrad stated that all conditions for safety were ensured and the Bulgarians had enough food supplies.
Chapov revealed that the other executive director of the firm – his son Kiril Chapov was in Chile with his whole family, so the workers were not on their own.
Chilean authorities declared a state of emergency in the northern part of the country due to the floods, which were caused by the torrential rains.
Two men were killed, 24 have gone missing and 700 families were left without houses due to the torrential rains, which are unusual for the arid region.
The roads were closed, there were electricity and communications outages and 40 000 people were left without electricity and potable water.