Bulgaria`s President Georgi Parvanov participated in a fox hunt on March 1, one day after the fire near Cherven bryag in the Sofia-Kardam train , which left nine persons dead. The hunt was organized by the forestry service in the southwest town of Simitli.

The news was announced by the Blagoevgrad Struma Daily. The paper reported that secret manhunt was organized perfectly by the head of the local forestry unit.

According to unofficial information of the Struma Daily, the Bulgarian head of state went hunting in the Kumatinitza region close to Simitli accompanied by the head of the Customs Agency Asen Asenov.

The President managed to shoot a fox but the organizers of the hunt told the Struma not to report it, as it had to be kept secret.

"There is nothing wrong with the President`s hunting here, he must have liked the region", the Simitli Mayor Apostol Apostolov said before the Struma Daily. Apostolov is the author of the idea to hew out the busts of the Bulgarian Presidents Zhelya Zhelev, Petar Stoyanov, and Georgi Parvanov in the Kumatinitza rocks in order to create something like a Bulgarian Mount Rushmore.

The government decided to declare March 5 a national day of mourning for the dead in the train fire tragedy, and did not cancel the celebrations for the National Holiday of March 3 on grounds that not all of the fire casualties had been identified.

The Press Service of the Bulgarian Presidency announced in reply to the Struma publications that the President did not take part in any hunting even though he was in the Simitli area on March 1.

"The President did not participate in any events, which are in contradiction with the tragic train fire and its consequences", the official press release reads. It also states the picture published in the Express Daily, where the President is in a hunting suit, was taken a year-and-a-half ago.