Bulgarian mountaineer Boyan Petrov has been seriously injured after a car hit him and another man on the side of E-79 main road leading to the border with Greece, local media reported on Tuesday.

Their lives are not in danger, according to the results of the initial medical examination, public radio BNR said.

The incident took place around 11.30am when Petrov and Andrey Kovachev from Green Balkans, a  Bulgarian nature-conservation NGO, were inspecting an area between the town of Simitli and Kresna Gorge slated for the construction of a section of Struma Motorway.

Bulgarian environmentalists have been opposed to parts of the construction project which, they say, would inflict damage to the wildlife in Kresna Gorge.

Petrov and Kovachev were hit by a Romanian-registered car. The driver lost control, the car swerved to the opposite side of the road and smashed into the two men, BNR said. Petrov and Kovachev were taken to hospital in the city of Blagoevgrad.

The incident took place less than a month after Boyan Petrov climbed Nanga Parbat peak. The Bulgarian mountaineer is famous for his 14x8000 Project for climbing the 14 peaks on Earth which are higher than 8000 meters.

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