Operation to rise the wreckage of Bulgaria cruise boat from the riverbed of Volga will finish on Sunday or Monday, the Russian Emergencies Ministry said.
Two large floating cranes, one from Moscow and another one from Volgograd, have arrived at the site where the recovery operation will be carried out, ministry spokesman Andrey Rodygin said. Military divers were brought in mid-week to aid in the search efforts.
“We have no difficulties now. We have the necessary equipment and human forces. We plan to complete the recovery by July 17-18,” Rodygin said.
The bodies of 114 victims have been recovered, while 79 people were rescued after the boat sank on Sunday in the Volga River about 80 kilometers south of Kazan, the capital of the Russian republic of Tatarstan. There were 208 people on board the vessel, which was designed for 120 passengers.
Russian authorities on Friday folded efforts to find the bodies of another 15 people believed to have died in the sinking.