Fourth Emergency Medical Helicopter Arrives in Bulgaria to Expand Air Rescue Network
The fourth helicopter designated for Bulgaria’s emergency air medical assistance system has officially arrived in the country
According to the director of the Mountain Rescue Service of the Bulgarian Red Cross Emil Neshev- Bulgaria will not have an air ambulance before 2023.
It is about time we have an air rescue system. Helicopter rescue service is for our whole society, announced on the air of Bulgaria ON AIR Emil Neshev after another tragic incident with a tourist in the mountains.
According to him, it is too optimistic to have an air ambulance by 2023, but added that one helicopter cannot cover the whole country. According to him, the period should be used to create a regulation - to have a system in place, crews to fly the helicopter, as well as administrative capacity.
"The problem is that there are situations in which there is no point in risking people in such a way and for as long as it happned on January 2," the mountain rescuer commented on the specific situation.
Neshev pointed out that the mountain rescuers are already close to recover the body of the tourist who died under the "Zhaltets" peak in Stara Planina.
He reminded that Todor Zhelyazkov, known as DJ Emotion, slipped when descending a steep and dangerous slope when descending from the top.
According to rescuers, he died on the spot from his injuries. The companion of the dead man and two other tourists from Sopot are still in the Botev shelter. They are in good health. There is food on site and everything they need to stay there until conditions improve.
"Today the conditions are almost as difficult as yesterday. But we have made slight progress, at the moment the team has passed the Botev shelter, is moving in the direction of Zhaltets and the process to remove the body has begun," said the director of the Mountain Rescue Service at the Bulgarian Red Cross.
Emil Neshev stressed that this is one of the most complex and difficult routes in the winter mountains in Bulgaria. According to him, the tourists were aware that the day was too short for this route and the tragedy could have been avoided.
"Last night there was an action in the area of Musala (Rila), which is currently ending. The gathering of injured tourists is underway. One of them has an injured lower limb, he cannot move alone. There were two tourists," Emil Neshev informed about another action of PSS.
It became clear from his words that at the moment the mountains are full of people, but tourists are constantly underestimating the conditions and only around 50% of tourists have mountain insurance.
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