Russian investigators have ordered police to detain the captains of two vessels that survivors from a sunken riverboat say passed them in the water without stopping to help.
Federal Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said on July 15 that the two captains would be held for questioning.
Survivors who escaped when a tourist boat with 208 people on board sank in the Volga River on July 10 said they watched two commercial vessels pass by as they struggled to stay afloat for more than an hour.
One man said he and other survivors waved their arms repeatedly to no avail. Russian media reported that people on the passing craft snapped cell-phone photos as they went by.
The confirmed death toll in Russia’s worst river disaster in nearly three decades reached 114 on July 15 as emergency officials said divers had searched all accessible parts of the riverboat. Another 15 people were still missing and feared dead, while 79 survived.
compiled from agency reports