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Parachutist dies, another one was injured in a balloon jump

| updated on 10/23/24 4:20 PM
Photo: BTA

One parachutist has died and another one has been injured and hospitalized with life-threatening conditions after jumping from a hot air balloon near the town of Botevgrad, Sofia region, announced Mitko Dimitrov, director of the press center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The report of the incident between the villages of Litakovo and Novachene was received by the police shortly after 9:00 a.m. Teams of the Ministry of the Interior, Emergency Aid and the fire department were immediately dispatched to the scene.

The paratroopers who jumped are civilians, there were two other people in the balloon with them - its owner and a hang glider. The weather during the incident was foggy, Mitko Dimitrov also said.

According to eyewitnesses, the parachutists failed to judge the distance to the ground and did not open their parachutes in time.

"The balloon has no documents and is unregistered, has no airworthiness and the pilot is not licensed," Anelia Marinova, director of the General Directorate of the Civil Aviation Administration, said later today at a briefing in Ruse. She added that several reports were received against the owner of the balloon and inspections were carried out - the last of them on October 13 of this year, when a protocol was drawn up to establish an administrative violation. He was remanded in custody for 24 hours in connection with today's incident.


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