Diary , 14:03, 16 May 2018
The search for the climber Boyan Petrov, who is missing from May 3, officially ended. This was announced by Dneynik Deyan Petkov from the team in Bulgaria.
Earlier, the team had called for the search to be terminated due to the lack of traces from Petrov and the danger for expeditionists due to the bad weather.
At noon, the alpinist's team is also aware of the decision of the Chinese authorities to end the search.
On April 29, Boyan Petrov set off on Shisha Pangma's attack (8027 m) when he was last seen by other expeditionists.
Earlier in the day, another member of Boyan Petrov's team - Kiril Petkov, who is in the Himalayas, announced in his Facebook account that one of Nepal's helicopters today managed to fly to the base camp and then to a height of 7400 m below the top. Most of the days of the search were impossible or difficult due to bad weather. This last flight was financed by friends of Boyan Petrov.
Later, the Nepalese airline, hired for the search, Simrik Air, told about the latest ringing of the area today. On the Facebook page, the company also presents with photographs the items found by the Sherpa, which are based on the climbers - the already mentioned insulin and energy gels and T-shirt. The team of Boyan Petrov confirmed to Dnevnik that this is his garment. The company thanked absolutely everyone who contributed to the search action.
Initially, neither the wife nor the team of Boyan Petrov in Bulgaria thought there was a reason to worry. The reason for this is that the mountaineer usually climbs himself because he does not want to keep pace with others. In this case, he has gone one day ahead. A connection with it could not be achieved because it traditionally leaves its satellite phone in the base camp.
Until May 6, it was not publicly known that there was no connection with the alpinist. This is clear from a publication in a Hungarian site after Hungarian alpinist David Klein reported that Boyan Petrov had started climbing the summit on April 29th. This was confirmed later by Petrov's wife Radoslava Nenova, who had spoken a day earlier with him.
Kline reported to local media that Petrov was seen with baseball binoculars on May 3 to move to camp 3, which is about 7400 meters high. On May 6 (information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs), three Ukrainian mountaineers and Sherpas have reached this camp, where they have only found Boy Boy Petrov's tents, snow-covered. Because of the sudden deterioration of the weather conditions in the area, the search for the achieved location is terminated. This is the day when the Bulgarian embassy in Beijing is also notified. Chinese authorities believe the Bulgarian mountaineer is missing on May 5.
On May 7, Radoslava Nenova announced in her Facebook account that she lost contact with the mountaineer, pointing out that a rescue action could be launched early on May 8 because of the bad weather in the area.
On May 8, Bulgaria asked China to allow helicopters in Nepal to join the search. This was necessary because the flying equipment available to the Tibetan Mountaineering Association cannot fly over 5,000 meters above sea level. This is a position that is even lower than the height of Camp 1.
His wife, meanwhile, announced an account to raise funds to pay helicopter flights, as the climbers' insurance covers these costs later on.
On May 8, Sherpa and Chinese rescuers begin the search and manage to reach Camp 1, where they do not find any trace of the mountaineer. Because of the difficult relationship with the base camp all the time, there was uncertainty about where the rescue teams were.
On May 9, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov assured the government is in contact with the authorities in China and Nepal and they make every effort to save the climbers. The Council of Ministers also invited China Ambassador Zhang Huizhou in Sofia, who announced that his country was fully supported.
On May 9 and 10, bad weather largely blocks the rescuers' actions. During these two days, a company from Nepal, Simrik Air Helicopter, was found in helicopters with an opportunity to fly and land at altitudes above 8000 m.
China has allowed two hired helicopters to fly to the Chinese territory by May 13 inclusive. The bad weather, however, prevented them from leaving immediately.
On May 11, rescue teams walking on foot recovered from the search. Then Chinese ambassador to Sofia, Jan Hajjow, said that there were a total of 100 people in the mission - rescuers and logistics, including two of the best mountaineers.
Meteorological conditions allowed helicopters to fly only on May 12th. On the same day, the serpents and rescuers reached Camp 2, where his team hoped Boyan Petrov might have been waiting for the bad weather to pass and where there were food and everything needed for survival.
A day later, it became clear that the rescuers reached Camp 3, Boyan Petro's insulin was found, which suffers from diabetes. According to information from the Chinese ambassador in Sofia, other items - food, clothing, but not confirmed - belonged to the missing person. They were analyzed by the participants in the action to give them traceability.
On May 14, the search was focused on Camp 3, where Petrov's tent was no longer visible. On the same day, his team in Bulgaria decided the search mission by air is terminated because of the bad weather, which in practice does not allow flights, and because of the opinion that at an altitude above 7000 m is not expected the alpinist has survived so long. Meanwhile, China had extended the helicopter license until May 14 and had committed to permitting flights, as required, according to the alpinist's team.
New searches followed in the area of the lower camps, including the base camp, which did not result.
On May 16, with a flight of Boyan Petrov's friends, one of the helicopters made a new flight of the area above the base camp to the height of Camp 3. On board were two people from the climbing team.
After this flight, the team informed the head of the search camps that they no longer see the point of threatening the life of the pursuers and they would continue. In the end, the search was terminated.
Source : https://www.dnevnik.bg/
