Bulgaria Assumes Command of Black Sea Naval Mine Countermeasures Group
On January 15, a ceremony at the Naval Headquarters in Varna will mark the handover of command of the Naval Mine Countermeasures Group in the Black Sea
The municipality of Simitli in southwestern Bulgaria has declared Friday three days of mourning for the five miners who died in the collapse of the nearby Oranovo coal mine.
The dead bodies of the two miners who were trapped inside since July 16 were found Friday.
Miners Ivan Lazarov, 35, and Nikolay Mihaylov, 42, were trapped 450 meters below the surface underneath an avalanche of mud, rocks and water.
Two other miners, Asen Stoynev, 41, and Hristo Mladenov, 45, died in the collapse as well, but their bodies were discovered on the very same day.
On Thursday, one miner died inside the mine from an apparent heart attack.
The proposal to have the official mourning came from the Mayor of Simitli, Apostol Apostolov, who visited at the scene of the incident regularly ever since the mine collapsed and tried to help the rescue team and the miners in any possible way.
The funerals of Mihaylov and Lazarov will be, most likely, held Saturday, but there is no official information on it yet.
Asen Grancharov, 49, who passed away from heart attack, was buried Friday.
After the two bodies were found, the mine's manager, Valeri Manov, held an emergency briefing for the media. He said that he believed the miners died immediately after the collapse on July 16 and did not suffer.
Manov also explained he felt responsible as manager for the safety of the workers, but did not feel guilty and was not going to resign.
This is the fourth major accident in the Oranovo mine in the past eight years. Union leaders said the reason for the collapse was poor safety standards.
Economy and Energy Minister, Dragomir Stoynev, has pledged to end the "vicious practices" at the Oranovo mine and bring to justice those responsible. He explained the concession might be revoked.
Monday is expected to bring predominantly sunny weather across the country, accompanied by minimal wind
Sofia is implementing a green ticket for public transport today as a measure to address poor air quality
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church today commemorates St. Athanasius the Great, recognized as the "father of Orthodox theology"
Transport Minister Grozdan Karadjov has officially accepted the resignations of Engineer Stoyan Stoyanov, head of the National Company "Railway Infrastructure" (NRIC), and Christian Krastev, manager of BDZ-Freight Transport
Bulgaria has decided to temporarily halt the import of meat and animals from Brandenburg, Germany, following an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the region
Since November, the number of violations in the Low-Emission Zone in central Sofia has reduced nearly tenfold
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