Moscow pleasure boat sinking leaves at least eight dead

Captain accused of being drunk as tragedy follows recent Volga river sinking that killed 122

At least eight people drowned when an overcrowded pleasure boat collided with a barge on Moscow's Moskva river.

Seven people were rescued in the sinking early on Sunday morning in central Moscow, which came three weeks after a decrepit overcrowded pleasure boat sank in the Volga river, killing 122 of the 201 people on board.

Revellers had gathered on the small boat, called the Lastochka, to celebrate the 31st birthday of a Turkish citizen, according to news reports.

Survivors said the owner's ship and captain, who died in the sinking, had been drinking. "Rescued passengers say the captain, Gennady Zinger, was drunk and didn't let anyone steer the boat," Pavel Seliverstov, the head of Moscow's investigative committee on transport, told the tabloid Life News.

Witnesses said the ship was manoeuvring wildly on the river. It sank at about 1am after crashing into a barge.

Vladimir Markin, spokesman for Russia's investigative committee, told Russian news agencies the boat was built to carry 12 passengers, but 17 boarded. One passenger disembarked during the nighttime voyage, he said.

Markin said Zinger had been fined three times, including as recently as June, for violating safety rules on the boat.

The incident shook a country still reeling from the 10 July sinking of the Bulgaria, an overcrowded vessel loaded mainly with women and children when it sank in the Volga.

The tragedy highlighted the poor state of Russian infrastructure, as well as the ubiquity of corruption in the country.

The Soviet-era boat had been having engine troubles before leaving port, and was carrying nearly twice the number of passengers it was than its licence allowed to.

The head of the company that rented the Bulgaria and the inspector who declared the boat fit to sail have both been arrested.

President Dmitry Medvedev reacted harshly to the Volga sinking: "E! veryone involved in organising this should bear responsibility.

"Next time, every official, regardless of his rank, will understand that consequences for such a ship leaving a port can be not only disciplinary, but criminal."

The tragedy came as Russia held nationwide celebrations for Navy Day.


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