101 missing after boat sinks in Russia

July 11, 2011|Associated Press

Family and friends helped a survivor from a tourist boat that sank in a reservoir… (Roman Kruchinin/Associated…)

MOSCOW - A half-century-old tourist boat with 188 people on board listed and sank quickly in one of the world’s largest reservoirs amid wind and rain yesterday, authorities and survivors said, and dozens of children were believed to be among the 101 people missing.

Two bodies were recovered.

About 30 children gathered in a cockpit in the double-decker Bulgaria moments before it sank into the reservoir on the Volga River, a survivor told the Interfax news agency.

Russia’s Vesti 24 television quoted another survivor as saying that the boat “tilted to the right and sank within minutes.’’

Crew members had time to open only two lifeboats, and could release only one from the ship, survivors told the Itar Tass news agency.

By early today, only two bodies had been recovered from the 66-foot-deep waters of the giant Kuibyshev reservoir.

The regional emergency ministry of Tatarstan said two men swam to shore, and a passing riverboat picked up another 83 people and the lifeless body of a woman.

The body of another woman was found later, authorities said without giving details. All aboard were believed to be Russian.

One survivor told Vesti that 24 that other ships refused to come to their aid.

Emergency teams from neighboring regions rushed to the site of the accident.

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