KAZAN, Russia — An aging cruise ship was severely overcrowded, had a malfunctioning engine and listed to one side before it sank in heavy wind and rain on a river east of Moscow, killing as many as 129 people, Russian officials said Monday.
River-cruise boats are highly popular among Russian holiday-makers, and the Bulgaria was carrying 208 people, including a large group of children, when it set off in stormy weather Sunday, officials said. It was licensed to carry 120.
The ship was listing when the voyage began, possibly because of unemptied sewage tanks, and the port engine was malfunctioning, local investigators told state news agency RIA Novosti.
Survivors reported the ship leaned to starboard as it made a turn and a wave washed over the deck. It sank within about eight minutes, Igor Panishin, an official with the regional Emergencies Ministry, told RIA Novosti.
Survivors told Russian news agencies that about 50 children had gathered in the ship’s entertainment hall shortly beforehand.
“It happened very fast. Hatches and windows were knocked out,” said Vladimir Shirybyryv, who was waiting at a nearby port in Kazan for word about friends aboard.
Seventy-nine people were rescued, and 58 bodies, including those of five children, were recovered. Emergency teams and divers from neighboring regions were searching for the rest of the passengers, but hopes were dimming that any had survived.
The ship sank about 2 miles from shore in about 65 feet of water, officials said.
One survivor told the national news channel Vesti 24 that other ships refused to come to their aid.
“Two ships did not stop, although we waved our hands,” said a man in his 40s who stood on the shore amid weeping passengers, some of them wrapped in towels and blankets. He held another man, who was weeping desperately.
Transport Minister Igor Levitin was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying the captains of two ships that passed by and appeared to ignore distress calls would be prosecuted “in the harshest terms.” President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday demanded a thorough investigation and declared today a day of mourning. He also called for a full technical assessment of the condition of all of Russia’s passenger vessels.
