BULGARIAN MOUNTAINEER BOYAN PETROV IN CRITICAL CONDITION AFTER A CAR ACCIDENT

Bulgarian mountaineer Boyan Petrov who recently set foot on Nanga Parbat summit (8,126 m) and the environmentalist Andrei Kovachev from Green Balkans, a Bulgarian nature-conservation NGO, are in a critical condition in hospital after they were injured in a car accident on 23rd of August.

The accident took place around lunch time, while the two were conducting an environmental inspection for the construction of a section of Struma Motorway in the area Osmanska cheshma between the town of Simitli and Kresna.

Petrov and Kovachev were hit by a car with Italian registration, driven by a 27 year old Romanian lady. The car, travelling to Blagoevgrad, for unknown reasons left the correct lane, went into the opposite side of the road and smashed into the two men who were walking.

They were immediately taken to the hospital in the city of Blagoevgrad, but later were transported to the military medial academy (MMA) in Sofia. Shortly after 17:00, the injured men were placed in the intensive care of the MMA.

The condition of the mountaineer Boyan Petrov is critical, the head of the hospital, General Nikolai Petrov, explained. Boyan Petrov has head trauma, a hematoma, fractured ribs, a lung contusion and is on mechanical ventilation. Intensive treatment has been started. Some further tests will be done, gen. Petrov said.

Andrei Kovachev also has a head trauma and therefore is in intensive care too, the general explained.

The Bulgarian mountaineer Boyan Petrov is famous for climbing 8 of the 14 peaks in the world which are higher than 8,000 m. On 25th of July, he conquered the 9th highest peak in the world, Nanga Parbat in the Himalaya mountain.