Bulgaria's Bansko Reopens after Two Days of Bomb ThreatSource: Sofia News Agency (www.novinite.com)
Published Date: 04 Feb 2007
The ski tracks of Bansko have reopened after two days of bomb threat, which was apparently false.
All day long, on Saturday, special army units were trying to set off an avalanche, quoted as a target for planting a bomb by unknown environmentalists.
Several mortars were fired off, but only to unleash a small piece of snow mass. If a bomb was planted at the area, it would have gone detonated, experts said.
The ski runs in Bulgaria's ski resort Bansko were closed on Friday, a day after an undisclosed environmental organization claimed to have planted a bomb there.
The situation in Bansko is normal, local authorities said but expressed concern over this apparent threat to the security of Bansko residents and guests.
Meanwhile, several environmental associations issued a joint declaration denouncing the threats under "ecological slogans".
The unnamed bomb scarers introduced themselves as environmentalists and threatened in a letter to the media on Thursday they had planted the bomb somewhere on Bansko's ski runs.
The letter was also sent to the environment ministry, explaining the alert aims to trigger avalanches and is in protest against the ravaging construction works in the resort.
Reports emerged later that the letter was traced back to a Russian server and Russian special services are helping their Bulgarian colleagues to disclose the menacers.
Local businesses and the ski runs' concessionaire, Yulen, complained the two-day closedown cost them enormous losses. Tourists and skiers simply preferred to spend the first in many weeks snow-capped weekend at nearby Dobrinishte and Pamporovo.
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