Bulgaria (ship, 1955)
Bulgaria (2010)
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The Bulgaria ( Russian Булгария , German transcription: Bulgarija) is a passenger ship that sank on the Volga on July 10, 2011 . According to the latest information, 122 people died. This is the biggest shipwreck in Russia since the sinking of Admiral Nakhimov 25 years earlier.
description
The river cruise ship with two passenger decks was built in 1955 as a Ukraina at the Slovak shipyard Narodny Podnik Škoda in Komárno (today Slovenské Lodenice Komárno, at that time part of the Škoda Group ) for the shipping company "Kamskoje Rechnoje Parochodstwo" (Kama River Shipping Company) in Perm. She belonged to a series of 36 ships of the type of the Rossiya class produced between 1952 and 1958 , which was also known as "Project 785" or "OL800" (Slovak: osobna lod 800 - German: passenger ship 800 PS). The Bulgaria had a diesel-electric drive with two main engines. Since 2009 the ship has been called Bulgaria (the name refers to the empire of the Volga Bulgarians ) and was used by the tour operator "Agroretschtur" in passenger service on the Volga and the Kuibyshev reservoir .
Downfall
On July 10, 2011, the Bulgaria was on an excursion from Bolgar (former capital of the Volga Bulgarians) across the Kuibyshev reservoir to Kazan . The weather on the day of travel was relatively bad to stormy. According to deviating estimates, there were between 185 and 208 passengers on board the ship at the time of departure , later mostly 208 passengers were reported, but the Bulgaria was approved for a maximum of 120 to 140 people. Despite the storm , the heat prevailed, which is why many passengers had their cabin windows open. Most of the troubled waters of the Volga are said to have penetrated the ship's interior unhindered.
According to initial investigations ran the ship that had been subjected only on 15 June a technical review, with a slight starboard list and a non-functioning port main engine off. Instead of the 40 tons of fuel required for stability reasons, only two to three tons were on board for economic reasons. According to the Russian daily Komsomolskaya Pravda , rescued sailors said that the ship was only incompletely repaired in the shipyard and that diesel fuel was mixed with water, so that the electric generator had failed. In addition, only one of the two ship's engines is said to have worked, although the ship was only checked by the Russian river navigation register in June. Furthermore, there were far too few life jackets and instead of five only one emergency radio on board.
At around 2:00 p.m. local time, the Bulgaria sank near the town of Sjukejewo in the Republic of Tatarstan within a few minutes for unexplained reasons to the bottom of the Volga, about 20 meters deep at this point. The captain, Alexander Ostrowski, stayed on the bridge to the last, tried to save the ship from sinking and went down with the ship. His body and that of his sister, who went into the cabin, were recovered by the emergency services. A passing small ship was able to take two people on board, the cruise ship Arabella , which is also nearby , was able to save a further 77 people. Mostly "around 80 rescued people" are reported. Boats were ordered to the scene of the accident by the evening of the day, but they were too late to save any more people. The Ministry of Civil Protection sent a rescue plane with special forces, and that night divers began to look for victims in the shipwreck. By July 13, 100 bodies had been recovered, a week later the number of recovered victims had increased to 114. The wreck of the Bulgaria was lifted from July 17th to 24th. During the rescue work, another three dead were discovered in the shipwreck, the total number of fatalities is 122 people.
See also
Web links
- Report of the Tagesschau ( Memento from June 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- Report at Panarmenian (English)
- Drama on the Volga
- Technical data of Bulgaria ( Memento from March 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
- Picture gallery still under the name Ukraina
- Cause of death for many - the life jackets put on in the cabins have become an obstacle (Russian)
- The last hours of life of Bulgaria passengers Pictures and text (Russian)
Footnotes
- ↑ Булгария (Украина → 04.2010), photo register (Russian)
- ↑ Name according to the technical data of Bulgaria ( Memento from March 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Archive: Report from ORT Pervy Kanal Russia from July 25th, 2011 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ All 122 victims of the shipwreck recovered Focus Online July 25, 2011
- ↑ a b n-tv.de: Operators are in the pillory , July 13, 2011
- ↑ a b The sunken "Bulgaria" is expected to be lifted out of the Volga on Wednesday at Rianovosti
- ↑ a b Marina Oehlerking: "Bulgarija" apparently not properly approved. In: Inland Shipping. Issue 8/2011, p. 6
- ↑ report at RIANovosti
- ↑ statements of former captain Minjajew
- ↑ Statements by the electromechanic
- ↑ Over 100 people missing, 80 saved after cruise ship sinks in Russia , RIA Novosti , July 11, 2011
- ↑ Contribution to nullpunktfeld.wordpress
