Tourist, 29, dies after falling 1,900ft while taking pictures at ski resort

A man has died after he slipped and fell 1,900ft while taking pictures at a ski resort in Bulgaria.

The 29-year-old, believed to be a tourist from Ireland, was on a snow-clad slope near the southwestern town of Bansko when he fell.

He lost his balance while with a group taking pictures of the surrounding scenery in the shadow of Bulgaria’s second highest mountain, Vihren.

The man, who has not been named, sustained multiple serious injuries during the roughly 1,900ft fall.

A mountain rescue team found him and took him to a hospital in the nearby town of Razlog where he died.

‘Despite all efforts of our medical team, he eventually succumbed to his grave injuries’, Dr Valentin Belchev said.

Bansko, a town of 8,000 people at the foot of the Pirin Mountains, 97 miles south of the capital Sofia, has emerged as a popular alternative to the major Alpine ski resorts.

More than 190,000 people visited last winter, an increase of more than 35,000 from the previous ski season.

A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs said it ‘is aware of the case and is providing consular assistance’.

They added: ‘As with all consular cases, the Department does not comment on the details of individual cases.’

In Italy, three skiers died when their group was hit by an avalanche in the Alps of the northern Piedmont region earlier this month.

They were dragged several hundred metres from near the 9,373ft summit of the Punta Valgrande when a mass of snow hit as they were ascending.

In Spain, two 18-year-old women were left in intensive care after a chairlift collapsed at the Astún ski resort in the Aragón Valley, along the Spanish-French border, on January 18.

A British woman, 65, died after she crashed into a man while skiing at the Les Arcs resort in the French Alps on January 11.

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