Bulgaria boat claims many children's lives when sinking

The rescuers, who examined the inner rooms of the Bulgaria passenger boat, which sank on the River Volga in the Republic of Tatarstan, found many dead people there, officials of the local EMERCOM said. The number of the dead can near the number of people listed as missing - 104 people. About a third of this amount are children.

The official information about the victims of the tragedy keeps getting updated. According to most recent information, nine bodies,including one child, have been found.

The divers were working all nights. They were knocking on the body of the boat, but no answer followed. At daybreak, they illuminated the inner rooms of the boat - the holds, the restaurants and the music halls, where the passengers would usually gather. "There are people there, but there are no survivors among them," officials said.

In pictures: The tragedy on River Volga

The press service of Russia's EMERCOM in the Volga region said that there could be some events held on board the boat. The passengers could gather in certain halls of the boat for festivities, for example. The rescued passengers, who were delivered to Kazan, said that over 30 children were staying in a restaurant a minute before the tragedy - there was a special holiday organized there for them.

"There were a lot of children on board the boat. When the boat started sinking, many of the kids were playing in the game zone, which was in the rear part of the ship. They all died. There was a boy there, he was going to turn five tomorrow, so they went on a boat trip to celebrate - the whole family," one of the rescued passengers told the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.

Another passenger said that the tragedy occurred very quickly. "There was no panic on board. The ship was traveling just fine, but then it capsized. "They all stayed there, inside. A lot of children have died. They were playing on the upper deck, in the children's room," a passenger said crying.

The Bulgaria, a double-decked passenger boat, built in 1955 in Czechoslovakia, sank on the River Volga on Sunday, July 10^th. The ship, bound to Kazan, sank during a thunderstorm.

AP photo