MOSCOW, July 22 (Itar-Tass) —— The mast and aerials of the sunken MS Bulgaria, which is being lifted from the bottom of the Kuibyshevskoye dam lake, appeared on the water surface, spokesman of the emergency headquarters for the lifting operation Timur Khikmatov told Itar-Tass by phone on Friday.
“The mast and aerials of the ship bow appeared on the water surface. The MS Bulgaria lifting operation continues,” the spokesman said.
At the current stage of the lifting operation the upper deck will be lifted 1.5 meters above the water level. The portholes on the starboard will be plumbed and the water will be pumped from the ship hull then.
Only after that the MS Bulgaria will be lifted fully and tugged to a floating dockyard.
Four long (about 15 meters) and broad metallic slings are used to lift the cruiser. Two slings are placed under the stern and another two are put under the forebody. The specialists succeeded to straighten and bring on an even keel the MS Bulgaria with two cables of the floating cranes Moguchiy and KLM-351. The sunken MS Bulgaria was lying on the starboard on the river bed.
The MS Bulgaria, which was on a tourist voyage from Bolgary to Kazan, sank on the Kuibyshevskoye dam lake on July 10. The ship, which was built in 1955, developed a strong list on the starboard and sank several minutes later.
The cruiser had 201 people aboard, several passengers were unregistered, the Investigation Committee reported. Seventy-nine people were saved. The death toll reached 114 people so far, eight people are reported missing.