Man rescued by helicopter while clinging on to a cliff in Bankso

A stranded tourist who fell and got stuck in a steep rock section near Bansko ski resort in the Pirin Mountains (Southwestern Bulgaria) was rescued by a helicopter ambulance, the Mountain Rescue Service said on its Facebook page on November 4.

The signal for the stranded tourist - for whom it was not possible to continue to descend or climb back up, holding on to his arms, as well as the danger of falling off the cliff after any unmeasured movement - was received at the Bansko base yesterday at 12.02. There was another tourist with him, from the group with which they were hiking, and he sent the alert.

Images by Mountain Rescue Service, Facebook

The helicopter ambulance took off at 12.50 from Vrazhdebna airport. At 13.20 it landed on a preliminary designated site, where it picked up three rescuers with the appropriate rescue equipment, then dropped them off at the foot of Mount Dzhangal, as the peak was obscured by clouds and the weather conditions did not allow a closer landing. The air ambulance then made another trip to collect three more rescuers and delivered them to the same place.

Due to the dynamic change of weather, after the second flight the machine returned to Sofia and the rescuers from Bansko started the technical action of reaching, securing and extracting the stranded tourist to a safe place and transporting him to the Bansko base.

At 15.25, the tourist was reached, secured and taken out of the difficult situation. He was then escorted by the rescuers along a mountain trail to the valley of Demyanitsa river, where he was transported by car to the Bansko base.