Two transportation inspectors held in sinking of Russian river cruise vessel

The Investigation Committee of the Russian Federation has detained two senior transportation inspectors over the July 10 sinking of a river cruise vessel that resulted in 122 deaths, the RIA Novosti news agency reports

The two deck river cruise vessel Bulgaria sank during a storm on the Volga River in the Republic of Tatarstan killing 122 people. There were over 200 passengers on board the heavily overloaded vessel when it went down.

Irek Timergazeev and Vladislav Semyonov, senior river fleet inspectors from Volga department of transportation watchdog Rostransnadzor, allowed the AgroRechTour company to carry passengers on the Bulgaria, despite the vessel lacking the appropriate license, RIA Novosti reports the Investigation Committee as saying.

“The illegal actions of the Rostransnadzor employees are directly related to their grave consequences – the death of the 122 people,” spokesman Vladimir Markin reportedly said.

Two people have already been charged in the incident. Svetlana Inyakina, the general director of the company that rented the cruise boat,vessel and river fleet inspector Yakov Ivashov, who certified that the Bulgaria was fit to sail, face prison terms if found guilty.

August 16, 2011