The tragic death of an eight-year-old child in Nessebar, who fell from a parasail above the southern beach, has exposed an alarming gap in Bulgarian legislation and control mechanisms. Senior government officials admitted that no single institution holds direct responsibility for the safety of water attractions, leaving thousands of tourists and citizens at risk along the Black Sea coast.
Commenting on the horrific incident, the Minister of Labor and Social Policy, Borislav Gutsanov, stated to gathered journalists that the issue of safety is not within his ministry's competence. "It turns out there's a gap in the control of water attractions. Safety is not within our ministry's competence", he said, adding that he couldn't even specify to whom exactly the question of safety should be addressed—whether to the Maritime Administration or another institution.
Minister Gutsanov: Mandatory Inspections Are Needed
Minister Gutsanov, who is a graduate of a naval academy and has sailing experience, did not hide his indignation at the lack of regulation. According to him, such equipment should be subject to mandatory annual inspections. "They age very quickly due to the sun and seawater, and I can't understand why the people involved in such activities don't realize that the sea is not something to be trifled with. This needs to be checked repeatedly. What else has to happen for us to be clear that safety must come first", he said, emphasizing the critical need for changes.
The statements were made during an inspection in Sunny Beach, where the minister, along with representatives of the Labor Inspectorate in Burgas, was checking compliance with labor legislation in the tourism sector. The director of the Burgas inspectorate, Pavlin Vaskov, supported the minister's words, categorically denying that his institution has the authority to control the technical condition of the attractions.
We do not have the competence to control these parasails; we have no legal basis to stand on to check the condition of the belts used in the flights, said Vaskov, describing the legal vacuum that allows operators of such equipment to work without effective control.
The tragedy in Nessebar has become a painful reminder of how institutional failures can lead to fatal consequences. While authorities try to shift responsibility to one another, the question of who will guarantee the safety of tourists remains unanswered.