Russia mourns victims of Volga River cruiser

Russia is mourning the victims of the Bulgaria cruiser that sank in
Tatarstan. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered a day of
mourning, ITAR-TASS reports.

Official information indicates that 58 people died, including 5 children.
The Bulgaria was an excursion vessel cruising from Bulgaria to Kazan.
It sank at the Kuybyshev water reservoir on July 10. The vessel was
built in 1955. It sank within several minutes.

The ship had a capacity of 140 people. There were 208 people on board,
some of the passengers were unregistered. 79 people were saved.
The victims of the accident are mainly citizens of Ulyanovsk, Volzhsk,
Minsk, Perm and other cities.

Russian federal channels changed their schedules and removed
entertainment programs and advertisements. NTV will demonstrate a
special program about the cruiser.

A spokeswoman for Radio Rossii, Margarita Lyange, said that they had
descheduled all entertainment shows, including a concert. Discussion
programs and talk-shows were adjusted as well. The Kultura channel and
Golos Rossii made similar adjustments. A spokeswoman for Golos Rossii,
Yekaterina Yagunova, said that they had removed musical programs.

President Dmitry Medvedev and heads of other states expressed their condolences.
A state commission, headed by Transport Minister Igor Levitin, was
formed to investigate the accident.

Over 100 divers are involved in searches. They have searched through
half of the vessel, but they still haven’t reached the main deck and
the hold.

A criminal case was initiated based on part 3 of article 263 of the
Russian Criminal Code for violation of transport security and
exploitation of a vessel. The investigative group consists of 50
people.

The main theory behind the accident is technical problems of the
vessel. A spokesman for the Russian Investigative Committee, Vladimir
Markin, said that the vessel made a lurch to the right when leaving
the port of Kazan. An engine was malfunctioning.

The naval station of Kazan is supporting people injured in the accident.