Six Bulgarian
Antarctic researchers were collected by the ship Lautaro from the Bulgarian base on Livingston Island in the South Shetlands, the leader of the
expedition, Prof. Hristo Pimpirev, reported on Thursday, quoted by the Bulgarian
Antarctic Institute in a press release. The emergency arrangements had to be made after newly detected COVID-19 cases among the crew of the Chilean icebreaker Achilles , which was supposed to fetch the researchers, prevented the ship from leaving for Antarctica on Thursday, and the six Bulgarians faced the prospect of being stranded on the island in harsh weather conditions and with limited food supplies.