Tsarevo’s “Killers”

The devastating flooding on the Southern Black Sea coast claimed three victims in Tsarevo on a bridge over the Cherna River, a small stream that descends from Strandzha to the sea through the town. Но освен стихията, принос за усилване на бедствието има и човешката дейност, както се вижда и на сателитни снимки. Дерета, които се оттичат към р. Черна са засипани и превърнати в складове и незаконни сметища, зад които стоят икономически интереси на местни политици. Тяхна фирма е подкопала последния мост на устието на реката, който от вчера е срутен. Неотдавнашен Plumbing repair around the other bridge, where the victims died, has increased the risk of disaster. And the Cherna River itself disappears from the cadastre just before the sea and becomes a building plot owned by… member of the murder group ” The Killers“.

“The damage was caused in places where there are no rivers. The catchments are very large and the amount of water that has been poured is something that has never been seen in these areas.” – commented the mayor of Tsarevo Georgi Lapchev after the flood. Apparently, he did not consider as damage the three human victims who died on a bridge carried away by a river within the city he governed. Prime Minister Denkov also denied to journalists that the backfilled ravines and the uncleaned riverbeds are a factor in the disaster: “The terrain is such that when it rains in large quantities, it flows down the ridges and from there the river goes on its way and the bay as far as it reaches,” he described the situation academically.

The problem, however, is that in addition to the water, all uncleaned garbage slides on the way to the bay, and the clogged ravines also interfere with the normal runoff. This has been repeatedly signaled to the Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Waters by the local municipal councilor Emil Peychev. From there they answer that there are no more ravines, there are plots of land. А и да е имало дерета, те били сухи и по тях не е текла вода. Тази глупост беше нагледно опровегана от майката природа по твърде болезнен начин.

Ravines become landfills and plots of land

The Cherna River, which flows through the lower part of Tsarevo, is crossed by several bridges. On one of them in the industrial zone, Google’s camera filmed an unregulated landfill for household appliances.

A few hundred meters down to the sea, on the left side of the road to Cherna, a ravine descends. On map of the Flood Risk Management Plan on the website of the Black Sea Basin Directorate, this ravine is marked as a risk zone.

The ravine and the vegetation around it are clearly visible in a satellite image from 2011, when Georgi Lapchev was elected mayor of Tsarevo. Следващите снимки налични в Google Earth показват как растителността прогресивно изчезва, а през 2022 г. дерето е напълно засипано. Участъкът е превърнат в склад на открито.

The terrain with the ravine with cadastral number 820 was municipal property until the end of 2021, when the municipality sold it for BGN 76,000. to the company “MOV” Ltd., owned by Stancho Stoyanov. За него се знае, че е бивш полицай и приближен на местния coordinator of GERB Angel Tsigularov /in the leading photo on the left/. Their economic connection is also found in the Commercial Register in the company ” Timber Les 2“, which was owned by Stoyanov and is now owned by Sigularov.

Tsigularov is an important figure in Tsarevo. A municipal councilor and a construction contractor, he also has logging companies that cut down in Strandzha. Three years ago, the large-scale study ” Gorigate” brought to light illegal logging, and in the region of Tsarevo the record holder was the company “Aidi 555”, associated with Tsigularov. Deforestation of the mountain is also among the factors that increase flood risks, but this is the topic of a separate study.

The company “MOV“EOOD has also acquired the adjacent plot of land (cadastral number 826) from a private person and has deposited with the municipality an investment proposal to build a waste separation base on the two terrains. More than 1000 residents of Tsarevo are against this project with Subscription, submitted to the RIEW, and one of the arguments is that the waste will be located on the backfilled ravine and there is a risk of flooding. Despite the protests, preparations for the construction of the base seem to have begun, but after the disaster the ravine formed again, according to eyewitnesses on the spot.

From the satellite images, it can also be concluded that the felling and filling of the ravine with soil began in the period when the owner of the terrain was the Municipality of Tsarevo. This is indicative of the way municipal property is managed.

Another example of a backfilled ravine, a tributary of the Cherna River, is found opposite the fire station in Tsarevo. Only a year ago, the municipal terrain was green, and today it is a construction dump. According to the municipal councilor Emil Peychev, who has sent a signal to various institutions, earth masses and construction waste from street repairs in Tsarevo have been deposited there.  

On the photos from the illegal landfill, published by Peychev, there are also campaign posters and signs of PP GERB, “cleaned” after the elections.

Undermined bridges by non-random companies

A regular contractor and subcontractor of municipal public procurement in construction is the company “K Building“. It is owned by the same Stancho Stoyanov, who is said to have been the best man at the wedding of Angel Tsigularov. Последният мост над р. Черна на самото устие е бил подкопан от багери на “К билдинг” заради незаконно изземване на баластра.

Pre-trial proceedings have been initiated in the case following a signal to the Basin Directorate by Emil Peychev. The inspectors of the Basin Directorate found that material was seized from the mouth of the river and spread it on a neighboring terrain, where the municipality is building a parking lot. As of yesterday, this undermined bridge is no longer there, swept away by the incoming water.  

The previous bridge on the road from Tsarevo to Vasiliko has also collapsed. It was there that the three victims of the floods were carried away by the water.

This bridge has recently been the subject of intervention along with water supply and sewerage repairs with European money. The contractor is the company DZZD ” ENGINEERING 2020“, in which the leading partner is the company “Planex”, famous along with the draining of hundreds of millions for fictitious repairs of dams. As a result of the construction works, the passage under this bridge is narrowed. And the results of Planex’s intervention are visible.

Holiday village “The Killers”?

Černá River hides other secrets, a check of BIRD in the Cadastre found. According to the current data, the river stops at the bridge where the water carried the victims. So far there are two properties with public municipal ownership and purpose ” ravine” and “water area“. There is no ravine after the bridge, at least according to documents.

However, officials have not been able to erase the riverbed in our material reality. Černá River exists without the favor of the Cadastre after the bridge. There it passes through a private property that is owned by the company ” South Coast Investment“. The company is associated with the notorious Georgi Valev from the group “The Killers“, serving a life sentence. KPKONPI has even made an unsuccessful attempt to seize this property.

The terrain of 10 acres with the privatized river ravine is intended for low-rise construction and an investment proposal has been submitted to the Municipality of Tsarevo to implement a holiday complex there. In the neighboring property, also intended for construction, the municipality turns out to be a co-owner with the convicted “Killers”. Traditionally, corruption, carelessness and a sense of impunity remain unconvicted “Killers”. And there is something deeply symbolic in the fact that one of the victims of the downpour is the head of the local court.

The BIRD.BG team expresses condolences to the relatives and friends of the victims.

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