Ministry of Transport Reports on Bulgaria Tragedy

Ministry of Transport Reports on Bulgaria Tragedy

http://www.seanews.ru/news/news

11 июля 2011, 11:01 / SeaNews

The RF Ministry of transport has officially reported on the tragedy with the river cruise ship “Bulgaria”. According to the Main Rescue Coordination Center of the RF Ministry of transport, on July 10 the double-deck passenger ship “Bulgaria” sank 3 km off the bank of the Kuibyshev Lake on the 1409th km of the Volga in Tatarstan. The ship belonging to Kama River Shipping Co is operated by Agrorech Tour (Kazan).

The ship was en route from Bolgar to Kazan with 182 people on board including 125 passengers, 22 crew members, 30 restaurant employees and 5 representatives of a tour agency. The ship sank at 13-20, the reason is unknown.

At 13-50 the passenger ship “Arabella” making a cruise from Bolgar to Kazan and at 14-20 “Meteor 249” came to the scene and started rescuing people. By 15-30 the “Arabella” took on board everybody from the water and the life rafts (79 people, including a dead woman) and at 16-00 left for Kazan. The “Meteor 249” saved 3 people, one of them was taken to hospital in Bolgar, two were taken to Kazan.

At 15-30 the m/v “Mayak” and “Rif” arrived at the scene and together with the Emergency Ministry started search for people. The sunken ship is being searched by divers. As of 8-00 July 11 the bodies of four were found, 96 people remain missing. At the moment of the catastrophe the weather was with a wind up to 12 m/sec, waves up to 1 m high, raining now and then.

The press service of the Ministry of transport earlier reported that the “Bulgaria” underwent a survey of the Russian River Register on June 15, 2011. She was found technically worthy.

Life saving equipment complied with the requirements of the Russian River Register and included life rafts for 120 people, two life boats for 36 people (put together, for 156 people).

There were 165 life jackets plus 12 life jackets for children.

Experts on Bulgaria Catastrophe

11 июля 2011, 13:38 / SeaNews

The river cruise ship “Bulgaria” sank within several minutes. Experts asked by SeaNews name several reasons why this could happen.

The factors leading to sinking in no time are age of the ship, its technical condition and hull structure, the weather. Besides, the “Bulgaria” had on board more people than it was allowed to take.

Most likely the ship lost stability. Structurally a ship of this type has no bulkheads, which means if water gets into the engine room, the bow or the stern, it gets to all compartments freely. The rule is that the ship should have a stability certificate.

The ship was built in 1955. A sea-going vessel this age would not be allowed out of the port.

At sea, convention requirements changed since 1955 several times. But the international rules do not apply to inland shipping in Russia. Besides, independent assessment and supervision of foreign classification societies are unavailable for river ships.

Experts compare the “Bulgaria” tragedy with the catastrophe of the “Admiral Nakhimov” in 1986 off Novorossiysk, which killed 423 passengers of 1243. The “Admiral Nakhimov” was not allowed out of the country serving Soviet ports only.

Captains and crews of the ships that ingmored the passengers of the “Bulgaria” struggling in the water should be found and punished. As a minimum they risk their captain’s diplomas.

Bulgaria Operation

http://www.seanews.ru/news/news.asp?newsID=1012840

12 июля 2011, 12:54 / SeaNews

According to the report of the Russian ministry of transport as of 11-00 Moscow time July 12 divers found 70 bodies of those who were on board the m/v “Bulgaria”.

RF Transport Minister Igor Levitin told 712 people and 95 units of equipment are deployed at the Bulgaria operation.

Additionally, 341 people and 49 vessels are deployed searching for survivors and victims in the water basin, on the bank and the islands in the Volga. 15 islands and 141 km of bank have been searched. The area is air-patrolled daily.

The boat is to be lifted. The project is to be developed by the 40th Navy Institute, the lifting operation itself is to be performed by Podvodrechstroy under the direction of the State Rescue Service (Gosmorspasssluzhba).