''Bulgaria'' () was a
class 785/OL800 Russian river
cruise ship
Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports of call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours k ...
(built in
Komárno
Komárno (, , ), colloquially also called ''Révkomárom'', ''Öregkomárom'', ''Észak-Komárom'' in Hungarian language, Hungarian, is a town in Slovakia at the confluence of the Danube and the Váh rivers. Historically it was formed by the "old ...
,
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
) which operated in the
Volga
The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...
-
Don
Don, don or DON and variants may refer to:
Places
*Don (river), a river in European Russia
*Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name
* Don, Benin, a town in Benin
* Don, Dang, a village and hill station in Dang district, Gu ...
basin. On 10 July 2011, ''Bulgaria'' sank in the
Kuybyshev Reservoir
Kuybyshev Reservoir or Kuybyshevskoye Reservoir () is a reservoir of the middle Volga and lower Kama in Chuvashia, Mari El Republic, Republic of Tatarstan, Samara Oblast and Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia. It is sometimes called as Samara Reservoir an ...
of the
Volga River
The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...
near
Syukeyevo
Syukeyevo (; ) is a rural locality (a '' selo'') in Kamsko-Ustyinsky District of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, located on the bank of the Mordovskaya River (a right tributary of the Volga), southwest of Kamskoye Ustye, the administrative ce ...
,
Kamsko-Ustyinsky District
Kamsko-Ustyinsky District (; ) is a territorial administrative unit and municipality of the Republic of Tatarstan within the Russian Federation. The district is located in the west of the republic, on the right bank of the Volga River. The territor ...
,
Tatarstan
Tatarstan, officially the Republic of Tatarstan, sometimes also called Tataria, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. It is a part of the Volga Federal District; and its capital city, capital and largest city i ...
, Russia,
with 201
passengers and crew aboard
when sailing from the town of
Bolgar to the regional capital,
Kazan
Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...
.
The catastrophe led to 122 confirmed deaths (bodies recovered and identified).
The sinking of ''Bulgaria'' was Russia's worst maritime disaster since 1986, when the collided with a cargo ship and 423 people died.
Ship
''Bulgaria'' was built at a Slovak shipyard in
Komárno
Komárno (, , ), colloquially also called ''Révkomárom'', ''Öregkomárom'', ''Észak-Komárom'' in Hungarian language, Hungarian, is a town in Slovakia at the confluence of the Danube and the Váh rivers. Historically it was formed by the "old ...
,
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
, in 1955 as ''Ukraina'', and was renamed ''Bulgaria'' in February 2010 after the
Volga Bulgaria
Volga Bulgaria or Volga–Kama Bulgaria (sometimes referred to as the Volga Bulgar Emirate) was a historical Bulgar state that existed between the 9th and 13th centuries around the confluence of the Volga and Kama River, in what is now Europea ...
.
Her length was , her
beam
Beam may refer to:
Streams of particles or energy
*Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy
**Laser beam
*Radio beam
*Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles
**Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...
was , her
draft
Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to:
Watercraft dimensions
* Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel
* Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail
* Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...
was , and her power output was . She had two engines and two decks.
Her cruising speed was , and her original passenger capacity was 233 (later reduced after overhaul).
At the time of the sinking, ''Bulgaria'' was owned by Kamskoye Rechnoye Parokhodstvo, which leased the ship to OOO Briz, which in turn subleased it to OOO Argorechtur, which operated it, according to media reports, on a
bareboat charter
A bareboat charter, or demise charter, is an arrangement for the chartering or hiring of a ship or boat for which no crew or provisions are included as part of the agreement. Instead, the renter of the vessel from the owner is responsible for ...
. This means OOO Argorechtur accepted sole liability for technical maintenance and crew placement. Investigators claim that Argorechtur was operating the cruise ship without a proper licence, and the company director was arrested on 12 July 2011.
Sinking
On 10 July 2011, ''Bulgaria'' was traveling in Tatarstan on the Volga River when she was caught in a storm and sank at about 13:58 Moscow time (09:58 UTC), several hours after beginning her cruise.
Survivors say that during the cruise, ''Bulgaria'' encountered stormy weather, and
listed sharply to
starboard
Port and starboard are Glossary of nautical terms (M-Z), nautical terms for watercraft and spacecraft, referring respectively to the left and right sides of the vessel, when aboard and facing the Bow (watercraft), bow (front).
Vessels with bil ...
. This was apparently compounded by the captain trying to turn the boat around, and soon water rushed into the vessel through portholes that had been opened because the ship had no air conditioning. According to a survivor, the sinking came without warning, and the vessel "listed to starboard ... and capsized and sank."
The boat sank within minutes, plunging nearly to the river bed.
The sinking occurred about from shore, in the
Kamsko-Ustyinsky District
Kamsko-Ustyinsky District (; ) is a territorial administrative unit and municipality of the Republic of Tatarstan within the Russian Federation. The district is located in the west of the republic, on the right bank of the Volga River. The territor ...
.
Casualties

At the time of the incident, ''Bulgarias total complement of passengers and crew is estimated to have been at 201, though she was only rated to carry 120.
On 11 July 2011, a government official from the
Ministry of Emergency Situations said that the likelihood of finding additional survivors was slim, leaving a presumed total of up to 129 dead.
On 12 July 2011, the divers recovered bodies of ''Bulgarias captain Alexander Ostrovsky and his spouse. As of 25 July 2011, the officially confirmed death toll was 122, with all bodies found so far identified.
Among the dead were believed to be at least 50 children.
Seventy-nine people (56 passengers and 23 crew members) were reported to have survived.
Of those, 76 were rescued by the cruise ship ''Arabella'', a few others were saved by other boats, and one swam to the shore.
Passed ships
According to survivors' accounts, two ships (the
oil tanker
An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk cargo, bulk transport of petroleum, oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quant ...
''
Volgoneft
''Volgoneft'' (Волгонефть) is a series of oil tankers that was designed in the Soviet Union for the Volgotanker shipping company. Ships of this series were built from the 1960s to the 1990s. They were designed as ":ru:Судно сме ...
-104''
ther sources claim it could have been the ''Volgoneft-38''and the freighter ''Arbat'') passed by after the ''Bulgaria'' had sunk. The passing ships did not stop to help and the
ICRF launched an official investigation into these claims.
In accordance with Russian criminal code article 270, the captain of a ship that refuses to help in disaster could be sentenced to up to two years of deprivation of freedom. However, these ships, being heavy freight barges with minimal crews, were not technically capable of stopping while passing, nor of turning back in an acceptable time. The barge owners refused to comment.
Investigators did not charge captains of any oil tankers in relation to the ''Bulgaria'' disaster as of 15 July 2011; the only captains charged with failure to save are the captains of ''Arbat'' (Yuri Tuchin) and ''Dunaisky 66'' (Alexander Egorov). These two ships seem also equipped with life boats.
On 28 February 2012, Alexander Egorov was found guilty by court. However, the court imposed only a relatively minor penalty of 190,000 RUB (less than 4,900 EUR). Egorov pleaded not guilty, claiming that entering the disaster area while towing barges would have hindered the rescue operation. He was considering filing an appeal.
Salvage

On 22 July with the help of two salvage cranes ''Bulgaria'' was partially lifted to the water surface. On 23 July she was moved to the nearby Gulf of Kirelsky, where her hold was sealed. On 25 July the bodies of the last two missing passengers were found in their cabins. On 26 July ''Bulgaria'' was moved to a
floating dock
Floating may refer to:
* a type of dental work performed on horse teeth
* use of an isolation tank
* the guitar-playing technique where chords are sustained rather than scratched
* ''Floating'' (play), by Hugh Hughes
* Floating (psychological p ...
for further disaster investigation.
Cause
On 11 July, an anonymous source close to the committee investigating the sinking said that the likely cause was portholes that were opened because of the lack of air conditioning on the vessel, which allowed water to enter ''Bulgaria'' when the captain attempted to turn the ship during stormy weather.
Evidence suggested that a number of safety violations could have caused or compounded the disaster. According to one survivor, emergency exit doors on the boat had been sealed or locked shut. Investigators also suggested that the boat set sail with a list to the right, possibly due to full sewage or fuel tanks on that side, and with one of its engines not properly functioning.
According to investigators, sailing with a malfunctioning engine is a serious violation of passenger boat regulations. Some survivors told Russian news agencies that they begged the captain to turn around because of the list, but were ignored. There were conflicting reports about whether the boat and the cruise operator were properly licensed for passenger cruises.
Survivors from the crew claimed that ''Bulgaria'' had lost electric power minutes before she sank, which effectively disabled ship controls, and prevented the crew from making a distress call over radio. For some unknown reason the emergency power did not come on. It was not until ''Arabella'' picked up the first survivors that authorities found out the name of the vessel and the true scale of the disaster.
While the ship was not licensed to carry the number of passengers that were on board, she probably was not technically overloaded as in the past she had been tested with as many as 2,000 passengers.
Government reaction

President
Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician and lawyer who has served as Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia since 2020. Medvedev was also President of Russia between 2008 and 2012 and Prime Mini ...
on 11 July ordered "a complete check on all means of passenger transport" in Russia in response to the sinking of ''Bulgaria'', and also declared 12 July a national
day of mourning
A national day of mourning is a day, or one of several days, marked by mourning and memorial activities observed among the majority of a country's populace. They are designated by the national government. Such days include those marking the deat ...
for those killed in the incident.
See also
*
''Alexander Suvorov'' (ship)
*
List of river cruise ships
References
External links
*
Ministry of Emergency Situations
*
A cruise ship has sunk in Volga River, as of 00.00 80 people were rescued"
*
Search-and-rescue operation is continued on the site of sunk cruise ship in Kazan"
*
As of 02.20 11.07.2007: lists of people on board of the sunk ship in the Rapublic of Tatarstan"
.DOC file
*
The situation emerged as a result of wreck of the cruise ship in the Republic of Tatarstan (as of 00.30 12.07.2011)"
*
Divers have examined the most part of the middle and main decks of the Bulgaria"
*
10.07.11 at 20:24 EMERCOM Ilyushin-76 plane left for Kazan"
*
Preliminary list of rescued in the accident on the cruise ship “Bulgaria”. The lists are updated regularly"
*
According to preliminary data 84 people have been rescued from 173 on board of the sunk ship in Volga River. One woman died"
*
Ministry of Health and Social Development
The Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation (, in short ) is a ministry of the Government of Russia responsible for health care and public health.
The Ministry of Health oversees the legal regulation and state policies of health in Russia, ...
**
Министр Татьяна Голикова доложила Президенту РФ о ситуации с пострадавшими в результате кораблекрушения в Татарстане и аварийной посадкой самолета АН-24 в Томской области"
{{2011 shipwrecks
River cruise ships
1955 ships
2011 disasters in Russia
July 2011 in Russia
2010s in Tatarstan
Maritime incidents in 2011
Maritime incidents in Russia
Ships built in Czechoslovakia
Ships of Russia
Passenger ships of the Soviet Union
Shipwrecks of Russia
Shipwrecks in rivers
Volga basin