Six more bodies have been found inside pleasure cruiser Bulgaria that sank in Russia’s republic of Tatarstan. Emergency crews have finished sealing the boat, after it was towed to shallow waters. The water to be pumped out next.
The main task now is to pump water from the sunken hull to make the wreck light enough to lift.
After the boat’s starboard side is sealed and the water pumped out, investigators will start work to determine the cause of the disaster. Only then will the vessel return to service.
The boat has been towed to a backwater some 11km away by the two floating cranes that earlier dislodged it from the bed of the River Volga. Twelve ships accompanied the Bulgaria to shallow waters.
Bad weather conditions and technical complications hampered the operation to raise the sunken ship.
The country’s worst river disaster in years happened on the Volga when the pleasure cruiser with over 200 onboard went down in minutes. One hundred and twenty people have been confirmed dead, two are still missing. On Saturday Russia’s Emergencies Ministry confirmed that there are no children among the missing.
The boat’s owner is under investigation and two people have already been charged with violating safety regulations.