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110 reported dead in Russian river vessel accident

Other News Materials 11 July 2011 11:55 (UTC +04:00)
Around 110 people were killed, including 30 children, in the sinking of a Russian cruise vessel on the Volga River on Sunday, officials reported Monday.
110 reported dead in Russian river vessel accident

Around 110 people were killed, including 30 children, in the sinking of a Russian cruise vessel on the Volga River on Sunday, officials reported Monday.

The Interfax agency cited rescue teams for the latest figures, coming after the events the day before when accounts of how many people were missing or dead constantly fluctuated.

Rustam Minnichanov, the president of the semi-autonomous republic of Tatarstan, said that 196 people had been on board the river cruise ship "Bulgaria" when it went down in a storm, DPA reported.

On Sunday, officials had spoken of 188 people on board. Minnichanov's figure would indicate that there were more travellers on the ship than were on the listed on the passenger rolls.

Around 80 people had been rescued, while 100 divers on Monday continued their work to search for and recover the bodies of the victims. Many of the dead were found inside their cabins, but also in the ship's restaurant and bar.

The Bulgaria, built in then-Czechoslovakia in 1955, went down near the town of Syukyevo, about 80 kilometres from the Tatarstan capital of Kasan.

Tatarstan's government called a day of mourning for Tuesday to commemorate the victims.

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