Only 18 of Bulgaria’s 247 Bomb Shelters Ready for Immediate Use Amid Rising Tensions
Amid rising tensions in the Middle East, authorities have taken a closer look at Bulgaria’s bomb shelters, focusing on their availability and condition
Photo: Ventsislav Jekov
The number of illegal immigrants, seeking shelter in Bulgaria grew exponentially in September, shows data of the State Refugee Agency, quoted by Dnevnik.bg.
Only in September 6776 people sought refugee status in Bulgaria. For comparison, the total number for the entire 2013 was 7100.
“The trend started sometime in mid-August and has been picking up speed since,” Vasil Danov of the State Refugee Agency told Dnevnik.bg. “The numbers increased significantly in September and October. The most obvious reason is the civil war in Syria, the Islamic State terror and the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan.”
According to Danov, the most significant number of illegal immigrants are Syrians, but the Afghans' numbers grow significantly. The refugee centres, in Danov's words, are already packed to capacity and the agency can organise the housing of additional 800 people.
Meanwhile, the agency expects that the numbers of illegal immigrants in Bulgaria will continue rising.
Bulgaria is set for a mostly sunny day on Tuesday, March 10, though early hours will be marked by cold temperatures and pockets of fog in many areas, according to the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (NIMH)
More than 2,600 Bulgarian citizens have left countries in the Middle East and Iran since the start of the evacuation efforts, according to information from the Situation Center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as of 09:30 today
Bulgaria is seeing a notable rise in prices, with the latest monthly inflation reported at 0.3% and annual inflation at 3.3%, according to preliminary data for February released by Atanas Atanasov
Last night, 120 Bulgarians who had been stranded in the Maldives finally returned home aboard a charter flight operated by the Bulgarian airline GullivAir.
The operation to evacuate Bulgarians stranded across the Middle East is ongoing, as authorities work to bring citizens to safety amid rising regional tensions.
Employees of “Bulgarian Posts” staged protests today in several cities, including Sofia, Burgas, and Ruse, temporarily stepping outside post office branches to make their demands known.
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