Holidaymakers' curiosity sank motorboat

Last Saturday, a private  motorboat with  39 holidaymakers aboard capsized 100 m off the shore in Yeisk, a small Russian resort on the Azov Sea. 
Having noticed a dolphin, all  the passengers rushed to the portside. Since the permitted load was 16 people, the next moment they found themselves in the water  and the boat capsized.  Luckily nobody got drowned as  a motorboat with beach-rescuers was passing by. They took puddling children and those who could not swim aboard. As the shore was relatively close, the rest careless holidaymakers managed to swim to it. 

According to Alexander Malyuk, an expert at the Chief Department of Civil Defence and Emergency Situations of the Krasnodar Territory,   most pleasure boats on the Azov Sea coast belong to individuals.  Local people buy motorboats  to take tourists for sea trips and earn some money during holiday time.

The elementary rules of passenger  transport are often being  ignored. Passenger  load frequently exceeds the standard  two or three times  with  no agency  around to control it. The motorboats  formerly owned and  eventually written off  by  fishermen’s collectives  lack any rescue equipment, which under regulations should include lifebuoys  and life jackets.

Alexander Andryukhin

Translated by Zaghid Yusoupov