Dozens have lucky escape as Russian tourist boat sinks

A PASSENGER boat with more than 180 people on board sank on the Volga River in central Russia yesterday, killing at least one person, injuring two and leaving 15 missing.

Regional emergencies ministry spokesman Marat Rakhmatullin said the boat sank in the middle of the river in the Tatarstan region, about 450 miles east of Moscow. He said a woman drowned and her body was delivered to a hospital.

The spokeswoman for the ministry said 135 passengers and 47 crew were on board when the double-decker vessel went down some two miles from the nearest bank. The depth at the site was about 66ft.

The Volga, Europe's largest river in terms of length and discharge, is up to 19 miles wide. The river is a popular tourist destination. Most of Russia's largest cities are located in the Volga River basin.

More than 80 passengers were picked up by a passing ship, many others made it to land on improvised rafts or were rescued by emergency workers.

The boat, Bulgaria, was made in late 1950s in Czechoslovakia and belongs to a local tourism company. It was going to the regional capital, Kazan from the town of Bulgar.

A tourism expert said the lack of partitions inside the Bulgaria made it vulnerable to breaches.

"It case of an accident these ships sink within minutes," Dmitri Voropayev, head of the Samara Travel company said.