A witness in the ship sinking that killed 122 people on Russia’s Volga River in July committed suicide on Tuesday, a police source said.
The heavily overloaded Bulgaria cruise ship sank during a storm on July 10. Seventy-nine passengers survived the accident.
The late witness was deputy department chief of the Volga branch of the government’s river and sea navigation watchdog Alexander Khramov, a spokesman for Russia’s Investigation Committee confirmed.
Two people have already been charged in the ship sinking case. Svetlana Inyakina, the general director of the company that rented the cruise boat, and river fleet inspector Yakov Ivashov, who certified that the Bulgaria was fit to sail, may face prison terms if found guilty.
The boat was brought to the surface on July 25.