Bulgarian Citizenship for 3 Macedonian Rescuers

The information was announced Friday by the Bulgarian minister for Bulgarians abroad, Bozhidar Dimitrov, who has been the moving force behind the initiative. The decision was made during the meeting of the Bulgarian Citizenship Council.

The three men are Zoran Gilevski, Georgi Kostovski, and Zoran Zamfirovski. All applied for Bulgarian passports one to two years ago. The wait through the regular procedure is usually four to five years.

At the beginning of March, the Macedonian authorities closed the investigation into the sinking of the Macedonian tourist boat ‘Ilinden’, in which 15 Bulgarian tourists drowned in Lake Ohrid in September 2009, but the outcome of the investigation and the cause of the capsize has not yet been determined.