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Boat sinks in Russia, over 100 still missing
According to Russian officials, there is little hope of finding more survivors after a boat sank in the Volga river yesterday. Passengers who made it safely to shore report that many of the missing are children.
More than 100 people are still missing with at least one person confirmed dead after a boat sank in Russia’s Volga river during a storm yesterday, Russian officials say.
News media report that the ageing vessel ‘Bulgaria’, manufactured in Czechoslovakia more than 50 years ago, sank within minutes in the 20-meter-deep waters just three kilometres away the nearest shore.
“The captain knew that this was no weather for a cruise,” Mikhail Turkov, spokesman for the local civil defense agency, told the Russian news agency Interfax.
Russion news agencies report that the boat was returning to Kazan, the capital of the semi-autonomous republic of Tartarstan, after taking passengers down river on Saturday, according to Russian news agencies.
Whilst 80 people had been rescued earlier in the day by a passing vessels, Russian officials have little hope for finding survivors amongst the 100 still missing.
The ministry’s regional branch reported that 188 people had been on board the vessel, including 150 passengers.
According to survivors, many children were on the boat when it sank. Interfax quoted one male survivor as saying that 30 children had gathered in a playroom near the bow minutes before the boat sank.
