AS MANY AS ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY PEOPLE are believed to be dead, after the two-deck Russian river ship Bulgaria sank in around ten minutes, 3km off the shore of the Volga River in Tatarstan, Russia, during a storm on 10 Jul. According to reports at the time of its...
AS MANY AS ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY PEOPLE
are believed to be dead, after the two-deck
Russian river ship Bulgaria sank in around ten
minutes, 3km off the shore of the Volga River
in Tatarstan, Russia, during a storm on 10 Jul.
According to reports at the time of its
sinking the Bulgaria was carrying between
188 and 209 passengers and crew (including
some unregistered guests), 79 of which
survived the disaster with the aid of another
river cruiser, Arabella.
So far sixty-six bodies have been recovered
from the wreck, which is lying 20 metres on
the bottom of the Volga.
This week a criminal case has been opened
against senior staff members of ArgoRechTur,
which operated the 56-year old Bulgaria, and
Yakov Ivashov of the Kama branch of the
Russian Register of River Vessels.
Charges include rendering unsafe/inferior
services that led to the death of two or more
persons due to negligence, and have a
maximum penalty of ten years imprisonment.
According to local media, ArgoRechTur
failed to meet security requirements onboard
Bulgaria which had a maximum capacity of
140 people, but was carrying far more, and
had a malfunctioning engine, and according
to prosecutors did not have a passenger licence.
Charges have also been laid against the
captains of two cargo ships, the Arbat and
Dunaisky 66, which did not stop to provide
assistance to passengers who were calling for
help as Bulgaria went down.
Russia’s president, Dmitry Medvedev has
also called for a full review of all of the
country’s registered passenger vessels.
