Dozens of Children Perished in Sunken Russian Riverboat 'Bulgaria'

Relatives of passengers of the cruise ship `Bulgaria` which sank 10 July lay flowers and momentos near the river port in Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, 11 July 2011. Around 110 people were killed, including 30 children. Photo by EPA/BGNES

About 30 bodies of children have been found inside the Russian riverboat "Bulgaria", which sank in the Volga on Sunday, in a disaster that is proving more shocking than initially expected.

Rescue units have announced that about 110 bodies are still inside the sunken vessel, and dozens bodies were recovered Monday afternoon, according to various reports of Russian news agencies.

The bodies of the children's are inside a nursery on the vessel. The divers are unable to recover them because of the strong current; according to rescuers, the children's bodies can be removed from the ship only after the two floating cranes expected from Volgograd and Nizhny Novgorov arrive and manage to lift the vessel out of the water.

There were more than 170 people on board of the riverboat, including at least 30 children. The "Bulgaria" boat sank in the middle of the river in the Volga region near the village of Syukeyevo in the Kansko-Ustinovsky district of the Republic of Tatarstan on Sunday afternoon.

The double-deck ship was built in Czechoslovakia in 1955 and is designed for 140 passengers, according to the site of the company that owns it.

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