Nearly 100 people are missing after a pleasure boat carrying more than 180 people sank in Russia’s Volga River on Sunday.
Eighty-four passengers were rescued by a passing passenger boat and one body was recovered from the river, the Emergency Situations Ministry reported. 99 people were missing. Rescue teams aided helicopters were searching for survivors.
The 78-metre two-deck passenger ship, built in 1955, carried 182 people, including a crew of 57, on a two-day cruise to Kazan, capital of Tatarstan, when it sank for an unknown reason at 2 p.m. local time. The accident occurred in mid-river three kilometres from shore where the Volga is 20 metres deep.
Experts said the boat lacked water-proof partitions inside and was liable to sink within minutes if it suffered a hole in its hull.
