Abstract of the wreck of the ship Bulgaria. About the technical condition. Unfinished river cruise

The wreck of the ship "Bulgaria". Chronicle and investigation of the case

Editorial response

The Moscow court of Kazan sentenced the director of ArgoRechTour LLC Svetlana Inyakina, the sub-tenant of the motor ship "Bulgaria", to 11 years in a penal colony. The defendant was found guilty under Art. 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Provision of services that do not meet security requirements”) and Art. 143 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Violation of labor protection rules”). The court found that the sub-lessee of the motor ship "Bulgaria" did not ensure the preparation of the vessel for navigation, did not train the crew and violated the rules for operating a river vessel. Also in this case, the chief assistant to the captain of the vessel Ramil Khametov sentenced to 6.5 years in prison in a penal colony, and former employees of the Kazan linear department of the Volga department of Gosmorrechnadzor Irek Timergazeev And Vladislav Semenov received 6 and 5 years in a general regime colony, respectively.

July 10, 2011 near the village of Syukeyevo, Kamsko-Ustinovsky district of the Republic of Tatarstan, sank during a thunderstorm passenger liner"Bulgaria". In this disaster, 122 people died, including 28 children. The chronology of events is reminiscent of AiF.ru

July 9, 2011 The double-deck ship "Bulgaria" (designed in Czechoslovakia in 1955) left the port in Kazan for a two-day cruise. The vessel at that time had a roll to starboard and an idle starboard engine. There were 201 people on board the ship, 147 of them were passengers. The route of the ship passed through the water area Kuibyshev reservoir.

July 10, 2011"Bulgaria" started from the city of Bolgar back to Kazan. At about 13:30 Moscow time, at a distance of less than 3 km from the shore, the ship gave a strong roll to starboard, as a result of which water poured into the open windows. The sinking of the ship happened very quickly. In less than 2 minutes, "Bulgaria" rolled over on its right side and sank. The crew members did not have time to send distress signals, as the radio room was immediately flooded. 79 people were able to get to the surface. The dry cargo ship Arbat and the barge Dunaisky-66 passed by the wrecked liner, but, as the investigation found out, the captains of these ships did not stop to help the victims. Approached the crash site around 2:30 p.m. cruise ship"Arabella", whose crew members began a rescue operation. The survivors were given first aid, the seriously injured were sent to a hospital in Kazan. Specialists of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia, psychologists and rescuers of the "Center "Leader"" detachment arrived at the crash site. Diving work began in the area of flooding.

The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under Article 263 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Violation of the rules for traffic safety and operation of railway, air and sea transport”, and a commission was created to investigate the circumstances of the disaster.

Raised "Bulgaria". Photo: AiF

July 11, 2011 investigative checks of the owner and lessee of the vessel "Bulgaria" began, since, according to the Volga Transport Prosecutor's Office, a cruise ship did not have a license to transport passengers and went on a flight in violation of the technical regulations for the operation of the ship. President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev gave the order to start unscheduled total inspections of civilian passenger ships.

July 12, 2011 year was declared a day of mourning throughout Russia, the funeral of the identified bodies of the dead began. In relation to the director of ArgoRechTour LLC, the sub-lessee of the ship Svetlana Inyakina and an expert of the Kama Branch of the Russian River Register Yakov Ivashova, issued a permit for the operation of "Bulgaria", a criminal case was initiated. In addition, it was determined cargo ships who did not provide assistance to the distressed "Bulgaria".

July 13, 2011 Diving operations continued at the site of the ship's sinking. The suspects Inyakina and Ivashov were temporarily placed in a pre-trial detention center at the request of senior investigator Sergei Chernyshov.

July 15, 2011 the search for divers on the sunken ship ended, 114 bodies of the dead were found, of which 20 were men, 66 women and 28 children. Exploration work continued downstream of the Volga River. Preparatory work began on the rise of "Bulgaria". A criminal case was initiated against the captains of two ships that did not provide assistance to the victims, Alexander Yegorov (the Danube-66 ship) and Yuri Tuchin (the Arbat ship), under Article 270 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

16 - July 21, 2011 work was underway to raise the sunken ship. The crew of the ship "Arabella" and employees of the Russian Emergencies Ministry were awarded medals "For Commonwealth in the Name of Salvation".

22 - July 25, 2011 Inyakina and Ivashov were preliminarily charged with committing a crime under Article 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Hull "Bulgaria" was partially raised above the water level. There were difficulties with sealing and pumping water from the ship, and it was decided to tow the ship aground to the Kirelsky backwater. After towing and work on the ship, 8 more bodies were found, those who were previously considered missing. Search work was completed, as all those who died on the ship were found and identified.

August 9, 2011 The Arbitration Court of the Republic of Tatarstan found ArgoRechTour LLC guilty of committing an administrative offense under Article 14.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (“Carrying out business activities in the field of transport without a license”) and imposed a fine of 50,000 rubles.

August 15, 2011 On the website of Rostransnadzor, the results of the verification of the circumstances of the crash of the ship were published. The main reasons were listed as a technical malfunction of the vessel, violations of safety rules by the shipowner and the captain of the liner, low qualifications and negligence of the crew members.

August 16, 2011 investigating authorities detained the head of the Kazan department of Rostransnadzor Irek Timergazeev and the chief inspector of the department Vladislav Semyonov on suspicion of criminal negligence - they gave a positive conclusion about the readiness of the vessel "Bulgaria" to transport passengers. The next day, the suspects were taken into custody and charged under Art. 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

November 21, 2011 In the Kamsko-Ustyinsky Court of the Republic of Tatarstan, hearings began on the case against the captain of the dry-cargo ship "Arbat" Yury Tuchin. On December 26, the court ruled to find Tuchin guilty and pay a fine of 130,000 rubles.

December 6, 2011 Hearings were held in the case against the captain of the ship "Dunaisky-66" Alexander Yegorov, but it was decided to transfer the hearing to Kazan, where most of the victims and witnesses lived.

February 28, 2012 the captain of the Danube-66 vessel was found guilty and sentenced to pay a fine of 190,000 rubles.

May 11, 2012 The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation announced the completion of the investigation into the circumstances of the crash of "Bulgaria". It became known that the senior assistant to the captain of the ship Ramil Khametov was brought to criminal responsibility. Svetlana Inyakina was charged with providing services that do not meet the requirements for the safety of life and health of consumers, in violation of the safety rules for operating an internal water transport and in violation of labor protection rules. Yakov Ivashov was charged with unlawful issuance of official documents that allowed "Bulgaria" to carry out passenger transportation, and abuse of power. Ramil Khametov was accused of violating the rules of traffic safety and operation of water transport, and Irek Timergazeev and Vladislav Semyonov were accused of abuse of power.

January 11, 2013 investigators said that the case was about the crash of "Bulgaria" of the Republic of Tatarstan in February 2013. The materials of the criminal case amounted to more than 80 volumes.

February 11, 2013 in relation to the assistant captain of the "Bulgaria", the director of LLC "ArgoRechTour", an expert of the Russian River Register and employees of Rostransnadzor.

May 6, 2013 at 10:00 Moscow time Moskovsky district court in Kazan. During the meeting, the judge granted the petition of Semyonov and Timergazeev due to the fact that the defendants needed Extra time to get familiar with the case.

May 27, 2013 meeting delayed, the consideration was postponed to the next day. On May 28, the indictment against Yakov Ivashov was read out, and the meeting ended there. Further consideration of the case has been adjourned, and a final judgment has not yet been issued on the case.

On Sunday, July 10, in the Kuibyshev reservoir on the Volga, the cruise two-deck ship "Bulgaria" sank. The vessel, on board of which there were 188 people, including passengers and personnel, sank to the bottom in just a few minutes. occurred near the village of Syukeyevo, Kamsko-Ustyinsky district of the Republic of Tatarstan on July 10 at about 14:00 Moscow time.

The rescue operation is still ongoing. Tuesday has been declared a day of mourning in Tatarstan.

(Total 16 photos)

1. Rescuers managed to pull to the surface so far only the bodies of nine passengers of the ship "Bulgaria" that quickly sunk in the Volga. The fate of more than a hundred people remains unknown, the Ministry of Emergency Situations says that the chances of finding survivors are extremely small. According to preliminary data, the "Bulgaria" sailed 70 people more than it should be according to the regulations.

2. According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations at 9.00, there were 199 people on board. The administration of the republic declares about 196 passengers. Among the passengers (the list is posted on the website of the regional Ministry of Emergency Situations) 59 children.

3. According to the latest data, 79 people were saved: “50 passengers were saved, 23 people out of 33 crew members were saved, 6 people were saved out of 18 unregistered passengers (not traveling on a package tour).

4. "Bulgaria" overturned 30 kilometers from Kazan, in the Kamsko-Ustyinsky district. The official cause of the crash has not yet been named. It is known that the weather on the Volga was bad: a strong gusty wind was blowing, there was a thunderstorm. The balance of the ship could not keep due to overload. According to Panshin, according to the technical regulations, no more than 120 people, including crew members, could be on board the Bulgaria.

5. Most of the rescued were taken on board by the Arabella motor ship passing by. Its captain informed the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic about the state of emergency, and in the evening the ship delivered the rescued to Kazan.

6. Passengers told reporters that two ships sailed past them before the Arabella, but none of them stopped, and from the sides, drowning people saw people filming them on Cell phones passengers.

7. The fate of more than 100 people remains unknown. The chances of finding survivors are getting smaller. The work of divers is complicated by the weather. In addition, fuel is leaking from the vessel's tanks, and rescuers cannot spend a long time in the water.

8. At the crash site of the ship "Bulgaria" additional lighting equipment was installed, divers inspect the ship. Based on the results of the examination, the chances of finding the living are minimal, ”ITAR-TASS quotes a representative of the Ministry of Emergencies. The agency told RIA Novosti that divers saw "a lot of corpses" in one of the rooms. Panshin adds that at the time of the disaster, a musical performance was taking place in one of the halls of Bulgaria. 50 children could watch it.

9. "Bulgaria" is a rather old motor ship, its design does not provide for equipping the hold with watertight bulkheads. It was built in 1955 in Czechoslovakia.

The Ministry of Transport has already stated that the ship was tested on June 15, 2011 and was recognized as technically fit. However, the Rossiya 24 TV channel reported that there were only two 20-seat life rafts on the Bulgaria, and not four, as required by the regulations.

10. Lifetime photos of the Bulgaria diesel-electric ship that sank on July 10 with about 200 people on board make it clear that the ship went on voyages with a roll to starboard. "Bulgaria" on the pier.

11. Without passengers

12. It is difficult to judge whether this damage is serious, but one thing is clear - the ship was far from being in perfect condition.

13. Passengers of the ship "Bulgaria" said that several emergency exits were closed or closed. Because of this, people could not get out of interior spaces on deck.

14. View from afar.

15. About 50 children were trapped in the ship's music room. At that moment, when the wave hit the side, many guys fell on the floor, the ship tilted.

16. The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation disseminated information according to which the ship left the port of Kazan with a faulty engine. On the fact of the incident, a criminal case was initiated under the article "violation of the rules for the safety of the operation of ships."

And finally - a very revealing comment - a tourist review dated July 5 (and no one "noticed" this):

The old galosh, pompously called "Bulgaria", according to all the rules, should not be allowed at all passenger traffic. On July 3, he was returning from a cruise flight on the route Kazan - Perm - Kazan. During the flight, the engine stalled three times. Last time a hundred meters to the quay wall of the Kazan port. When the engine was turned off, the power supply system was de-energized. So, even the radio communication did not work (the question is, where are the emergency batteries?!). Departure for this ill-fated flight was delayed for a week, until they collected money for vouchers in order to patch up technical flaws at their expense. As a result, there was not enough money to feed the tourists. There wasn't even enough bread. While the ship was standing in the lock of the hydroelectric power station (Tchaikovsky), the sailors of the team ran for bread. on board as drinking water passengers drank outboard Volga (Kama). The speed of movement of this old galosh turned out to be such that every time she arrived at the port several hours late. Because of this, excursions were reduced or canceled altogether. But the owners of this vessel, not wanting to lose their profits, have already sold tickets for the next flight. In order to have time to return to the port of Kazan, the planned and promised excursions to passengers in Tchaikovsky, Sarapul, green parking were canceled. Despite the fact that the passengers on this flight were disabled people and pensioners - people who saved up money for this trip all year. They asked the captain (who, by the way, never went out to the public during the entire flight) not to deprive them of the promised excursions. But he was adamant and did the will of the huckster-hostess, making up for being late. But there is justice in the world! And 100 meters before the pier, the engine stalled once again. So I had to supply power from the tug to lift the anchor. And with two tugboats to put Bulgaria to the mooring wall. You can’t offend the innocent and profit at their expense, receiving money for services not rendered and a very unobtrusive “service”!

We remind you that Bigpiccha is in

On August 31, 1986, in the port of Novorossiysk, the cargo ship "Peter Vasev" rammed the steamer "Admiral Nakhimov", as a result, a hole of about 90 square meters was formed in the board of the "Nakhimov". There were 1,243 people on board the cruise ship at the time, of which 423 died.

Assigned to Odessa, "Admiral Nakhimov" was built in 1925 in Germany and was then called "Berlin". Until 1939 he made regular flights through Atlantic Ocean. Since the beginning of World War II, she was part of the German Navy as a hospital ship. In 1945, at the mouth of the Svine River, he hit a mine and sank at a depth of 13 meters. In 1946, the ship crossed Soviet Union on account of war reparations and was renamed "Admiral Nakhimov". In 1949-1957, the ship underwent a major overhaul in the GDR. Since 1957, the ship has been on the balance sheet of the Black Sea shipping company and made cruise voyages along the shores of the Black Sea. Since the late 1970s, its operation was limited to cruises along the Crimean-Caucasian line between the ports of Odessa, Yalta, Novorossiysk, Sochi, Sukhumi, Batumi, since the ship did not meet the requirements of the SOLAS-1974 Convention on the safety of navigation.

Its last scheduled repair and classification of "Admiral Nakhimov" took place in January-April 1985 in Varna (Bulgaria), and then it was assigned a service life until November 30, 1986.

The ship was 174 meters long, 21 meters wide and 12 meters high. The ship had two swimming pools, a cinema hall, dance floors, a library, music and ladies' salons, a restaurant, a children's canteen, etc.

On August 31, 1986, in accordance with the cruise plan at 2 pm, the Admiral Nakhimov steamer arrived in Novorossiysk, where it remained until 10 pm. During the stay, the ship's passengers had the opportunity to walk around the city, get acquainted with local attractions. Due to the hot weather, the portholes were opened in the cabins, as the ventilation on the ship was not very good, especially on the lower decks.

At 22.00 the ship under the command of the captain long-distance navigation Vadim Markov departed from the pier of Novorossiysk and followed to the exit from the Tsemesskaya Bay, in the northwestern part of which the city is located. The ship was heading south, along the Black Sea coast, to the resort city of Sochi. There were 346 crew members and 897 passengers on board.

At the same time, the cargo ship-dry cargo ship "Pyotr Vasev" entered the Tsemess Bay ( greater displacement), which carried about 30,000 tons of barley from Canada. The ship was built in Japan in 1981 and is equipped with the latest navigational and navigational aids. The commander of the dry cargo ship (bulk carrier) was Captain Viktor Tkachenko.

The ships approached on intersecting courses. According to all international maritime rules, the one who is on the left gives way first, i.e. steamer "Admiral Nakhimov". In this situation, it was enough for the Admiral Nakhimov steamer to turn 25-30 degrees to the right, and the ships would freely disperse on their left sides. But this time the coastal ship regulation post decided differently. The controllers offered the captain of the cargo ship Viktor Tkachenko to let the passenger ship through, to which he agreed. After that, both ships got in touch with each other and clarified the details of the maneuver. At a distance of 2.5 miles (4.6 kilometers) from each other, the watchman of the steamer once again specified the order of passage of the course, to which he received a positive response from the watchman on the bulk carrier.

Both ships were approaching. When there was 1.5 miles (2.8 kilometers) between them, the watchman on the steamer several times requested confirmation by radio that the cargo ship was giving way to them. To which a positive response was received.

The captain of the cargo ship, Viktor Tkachenko, really did not see any reason for concern, since he did not observe the surrounding situation, but completely relied on the automatic radar plotting system, which did not show a dangerous approach.

At 23.05, Captain Tkachenko, after another call from the steamer "Admiral Nakhimov" to give way, finally gave the command to slow down, and then "full astern", but the cargo ship continued to move forward by inertia. At this time, the watch officer on the ship twice gave the command to turn five degrees off course, and then "full back".

At 23.12 there was a collision of ships at an angle close to a straight line, when they were at a distance of four kilometers from the coast of Cape Doob. "Pyotr Vasev" crashed with a bulb - the underwater part of the bow - into the starboard side of the passenger steamer, the blow fell between the engine and boiler rooms. As experts later found out, a hole was formed nine by ten meters in size. Having run into the "Admiral Nakhimov", the bulk carrier hovered on it for a few seconds with its bow, and only then only heavily stepped back. Then the experts calculated: only six seconds were not enough for the two ships to freely disperse.

After disengaging, the Admiral Nakhimov went forward by inertia and began to list sharply to starboard due to the incoming huge masses of outboard water. A minute later, all the lights on the ship went out. After about 1-2 minutes, the second mechanic of the ship managed to start the emergency diesel generator. The light came on again, but the emergency lighting worked for about two minutes, after which the light went out completely.

After the impact, the ship moved by inertia to the southeast for another 900 meters, gradually laying on the starboard side and sinking. All this time, on the deck of the ship, sailors lowered boats and dropped rafts, thanks to which hundreds of people saved their lives. 7-8 minutes after the collision, the Admiral Nakhimov sank, dragging along a lot of people who did not have time to sail away, as well as those who did not have time to get out of the labyrinth of numerous passages, ladders, and doors of the ship. Those crew members who went to the lower decks to help the passengers who lived there also died, to find their life jackets, put them on and go out onto the open deck.

The ship lay down on the bottom of the Tsemesskaya Bay on the starboard side to a depth of 47 meters.

Five minutes after the steamship "Admiral Nakhimov" sank, the cargo ship "Pyotr Vasev", which was damaged, began to move towards the crash site, but after a while stopped moving, fearing to crush people in the water. A motorboat was lowered from it, which went to the crash site. People from the sunken ship began to swim up to the cargo ship. They could not lower the ladder from it, and not everyone had the strength to climb onto the rope ladders (storm ladders) and ropes.

Boats, ships, boats and boats were sent to the accident area from Novorossiysk to provide assistance to the victims. The pilot boat LK-90 was the first to approach the site of the death of the "steamboat" Admiral Nakhimov ", whose crew rescued 80 people. The approaching military border boat rescued 146 passengers, another boat - 86 people. As a result of rescue work, 820 people were rescued from the water. In the hull 344 people remained on the ground in the disaster area, of which 279 of the dead were soon raised by divers. two divers were killed.

The sunken ship gradually sank into the silt and by September 18 had gone into it by 1.5 meters. It became extremely dangerous to work in the compartments of the ship, and therefore, on September 19, an order was issued to stop diving operations associated with the search for the dead.

In total, 423 people died in this disaster. About 60 floating facilities, 18 helicopters and aircraft, 223 divers were involved in rescue operations.

According to experts, the cause of the tragedy was the wrong actions of the captains of both ships. They survived and were sentenced to 15 years in prison. The captain of the "Pyotr Vasev" Tkachenko was released early in 1992, later emigrated to Israel and died tragically in 2003. The captain of the "Admiral Nakhimov" Markov was also released in 1992 and continued to work as a mentor captain on the ships of the Black Sea Shipping Company. He died in May 2007 after a serious illness.

Motor ship "Pyotr Vasev" in 1986 was renamed "Podolsk". Then the ship changed its owner and name on board several times. last name- "JIAJIAXIN 1" (Panama flag). Decommissioned 24 September 2012, broken up for scrap in Bangladesh.

The ship "Admiral Nakhimov" still rests at the bottom of the sea. An area with a radius of 500 meters is officially declared a burial site. It is forbidden to anchor here.

On the high slope of Cape Doob of the Tsemess Bay, the closest to the place of the death of the "Admiral Nakhimov", near the lighthouse, in 1987 a monument was erected, a tribute to the memory of all 423 dead passengers and crew members. The site chosen for the monument rises about a hundred meters above sea level. IN good weather from it you can see a vast stretch of the sea, as well as the place of death of the Nakhimov.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

This tragedy, which took place 34 years ago on the Volga near Ulyanovsk, claimed the lives of over 170 people. Evil fate seemed to pursue the ship "Alexander Suvorov" - a quarter of a century after that terrible incident, the ship again crashed.

How and why it all happened

The four-deck "Alexander Suvorov", the largest at that time river passenger ship Secular Union, on the day of the crash was only two years old, the ship was made in Czechoslovakia by order of the Volga-Don River Shipping Company. On that fateful June day in 1983, the Suvorov was making a tourist route from Rostov-on-Don to Moscow.

At ten o'clock in the evening on June 5, the ship almost top speed rammed the span of the Ulyanovsk bridge, which was not intended for navigation, seriously damaging the structure of the most superfluous engineering structure. The ship was moving at a speed of 25 km / h (for such a vessel, it is almost the maximum). As a result of the collision, the cabin, the cinema hall were completely demolished, and the chimneys were cut off. Despite the stalled engines, "Suvorov" after the accident "on the machine" overcame about 300 meters.

The text of the negotiations between the navigator of the "Alexander Suvorov" Yevgeny Mitenkov and the Ulyanovsk river port says that Mitenkov showed criminal negligence (by the way, the navigator paid for it with his life): the dimensions of the vessel clearly did not correspond to the span through which the ship was going. Obvious and no less criminal carelessness was also demonstrated by the ship's helmsman. In addition, by the time of the crash, it was already dark, and there were no corresponding signal lights on the bridge. The lineman's booth, which stood on the fatal span, was apparently taken in the dark for a signal board, which in such cases shows that the ship can pass under the bridge in this place.

The terrible consequences of the crash

The collision occurred at the moment when a freight train consisting of 53 wagons was moving along the bridge. After the impact, 11 of them derailed. The train was carrying timber, coal, grain. From the overturned wagons, all this flew onto the ship. A fuel tank stuck in the farms almost collapsed onto the Suvorov.

Together with the crew, service personnel, their relatives and friends, passengers on the "Alexander Suvorov" were over 400 people. Of these, more than 170 died (a different number of victims is still called). Was warm summer evening, many vacationers watched movies or had fun on the dance floor on the upper deck. Both the cinema hall and the dance floor were demolished during the crash. Eyewitnesses recall that along the ladders leading to upper deck, streams of blood flowed, and the spectacle that opened when looking at the place of the tragedy was indescribable because of the monstrosity of the picture that was opening - a continuous bloody mess of moving human bodies.

Many passengers jumped overboard after the crash. The personnel of the Ulyanovsk hospitals were urgently alerted, and the help of doctors saved many lives of the Suvorovites.

The navigator died, the captain's heart could not stand it

The navigator of the "Alexander Suvorov" Yevgeny Mitenkov, who was in the wheelhouse, died. Captain Vladimir Kleymenov was given 10 years in prison. On June 5, he had to go on duty at 24 o'clock, and therefore the captain was in his cabin at the time of the crash. Of the term measured by the court, Kleymenov served a little more than half, he was released early due to hypertension. 7 years after that terrible night The captain's heart failed.

Since little was known about the disaster in Soviet times, there were rumors that the Western intelligence services planned the collision of the Suvorov with the bridge, allegedly the pictures of the ship after the accident, which later got into the foreign media, were taken from the satellite. But there is no real confirmation of these conjectures, they are easily refuted by a careful study of the documents published to date - the photos were taken for an investigative experiment by Soviet law enforcement agencies.

Skid to the gateway

The ship has been restored and is still on the move. Nine years ago, another accident happened to him - "Alexander Suvorov" with almost 300 passengers on board in the Moscow Canal hit the lock on board. The ship's control system failed, the movement of the ship stalled. This time there were no casualties.

=================================================

For more than thirty years, I have not forgotten this tragedy. Most of the site's visitors are young people "under 30" who may not be aware of that tragic event. But even "over 30", even "over 40" he is hardly remembered because of his young age.

A few years before the incident, in order to earn extra money in addition to the main work in the design bureau, I completed the courses of guides. Having received "crusts", I began to work on weekends with tourists arriving in our Volga city on motor ships. It is now that tourism along the Volga has significantly decreased, at that time ships arrived one after another, often mooring one to another due to the fact that there was no free mooring. Tourists went to the embankment, sometimes bypassing 2-3 motor ships. There are many groups, few guides.

Before that memorable event, I went on maternity leave, was free from my main job, my health allowed me to actively engage in excursion activities.

Now about the sad thing… one of the scheduled days, I was conducting an excursion with a group of tourists from the same voyage of the ship "Alexander Suvorov" when it was heading up the Volga. Nothing special, just a normal tour.

And suddenly, a few days later - a stunning news about the tragedy that occurred in Ulyanovsk ... That day I was going to another meeting with tourists from another ship. I was psychologically crushed by the news of this tragedy, plus - the heat was over 30 degrees. I can’t erase the faces of those tourists from my memory, whom I recently introduced to the sights of our city ... I would like to think that it was with “my” tourists that the trouble did not happen, although this was little consolation.

The trolleybus waited longer than usual, it was impossible to linger with the next group of tourists, so I had to run a little in my "interesting" position. I see an "ownerless" group of tourists crowded at the pier, I rush to them, and ... (I still remember with horror!) I loudly ask: "Is this the ship Alexander Suvorov? Are you tourists from Alexander Suvorov?" People silently shy away from me, but I still don’t understand why, I repeat my question. Finally, one woman, grabbing my hand, enlightened me ... I caught my breath, put myself in order, I went up to the waiting group, introducing myself to them. The group refuses to go on a tour with me, requires another guide. My apologies, explanations, etc. did not help. I think some kind of horror seized people from one look of a disheveled, pot-bellied, out of breath, supposedly insane woman who was looking for tourists from a ship that had just crashed under the Ulyanovsk bridge.

I could not insist, I went to the tour operators inside the rech. station and asked for another group to replace me, and those frightened tourists were taken by another girl who was waiting for a group from a ship that had not yet arrived.

At first, all these memories tormented me for a long time (both about the tragedy and about my sudden "insanity" that frightened the tourists, who were already under the impression of what had happened ...

The birth of my son and the troubles associated with it forced me to stop my tour. activity, over time, I remembered the tragedy and my terrible embarrassment less and less, then I began to completely forget ...

I don’t know why I wrote about this today, after reading an article about that tragic event. I remember everything as if it had happened yesterday.

Double-deck motor ship (diesel-electric ship) " Bulgaria» was built in 1955 at the shipyard Národny Podnik Škoda Komárno(Now Slovenské lodenice Komárno a.s.) in Komarno (Czechoslovakia, now Slovakia) under project 785 in the second series.

Since its construction, the ship has been named after Ukraine, in February 2010 was renamed in honor of the Volga Bulgaria - ancient state on the territory of modern Tatarstan. Until 1962, it belonged to the Volga United River Shipping Company (VORP), the port of registry was Gorky, then it was transferred to Kamskoye river shipping company(currently - OJSC "Shipping Company" Kama River Shipping Company "", CEO- Valery Neznakin, the largest shareholder - Mikhail Antonov), port of registry - Chaikovsky.

In 2000-2010, the tenants of the ship were Kazan Shipping Company, Vodaflot, Volgatur. Then the ship was rented by Breeze LLC (general director - Valery Neznakin, who in June 2011 subleased the ship to the Kazan ArgoRechTour LLC (director - Svetlana Inyakina), which had a bad business reputation and was not included in Single register tour operators, which means no rights to organize transportation.

Sale of tickets for boat cruises for various tour operators in last years the Kazan company "InturVolga" was engaged. Passengers, as a rule, were not insured separately, including in wrecked flight, but were included in the program of compulsory insurance on transport (with compensation to relatives of 120 minimum wages, or 519 thousand rubles) in the event of death, as well as ordinary medical insurance under compulsory medical insurance policies. The ship itself was not insured.

The ship went through the reservoirs and large lakes the Volga River basin (including along the Kama), performing tourist (pleasure) flights.

On the night of September 4-5, 2008, being on the passenger roadstead, the vessel went beyond its border and ran aground with the whole hull near the river port of Kazan (1311 km of the Volga). After 2 hours, a pusher tug was called to remove the ship from the shallows, and it returned safely to the river port.

Crash and subsequent events

The ship "Bulgaria", which was cruising along the route Kazan - Bolgar - Kazan, sank on July 10, 2011 in the Volga near the village of Syukeyevo, Kamsko-Ustyinsky district of Tatarstan.

According to the Rostransnadzor report, “At about 12:25 on July 10, the ship was hit by a strong gust of wind from the port side, a heavy downpour with a thunderstorm began. At this moment, the d / e "Bulgaria" entered the left turn. It should be noted that when the rudders are shifted to the left, all ships acquire an additional dynamic roll to starboard. As a result, the roll angle was 9 degrees. “With such a roll, the portholes of the starboard side entered the water, as a result of which about 50 tons of outboard water entered the compartments of the vessel through the open portholes in 1 minute. In order to reduce the area affected by the wind on the port side, the captain decided to lie on a course “to the wind”. To do this, the rudders were set 15T to the left.” As a result, the roll increased and the total amount of water entering the ship's compartments reached 125 tons per minute. After that, all portholes and part main deck starboard sank into the water. Over the next 5-7 seconds, there was a sharp increase in list from 15 to 20 degrees, as a result of which the ship capsized to starboard and sank.

Two vessels - the dry cargo ship "Arbat" and the pusher "Dunaisky 66" passed by the rafts with passengers and crew of the ship "Bulgaria". The first ship to come to the aid of those in distress was the Arabella cruise ship, whose crew carried out rescue operation. Survivors received first aid on board the Arabella health care, food, hot drinks and dry clothes are provided. Several seriously injured were sent to Kazan on the Meteor.

For several days from the day of the tragedy, the operation to lift the ship "Bulgaria" from the bottom of the Kuibyshev reservoir and search for the bodies of the dead continued. Significant forces of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia, the Ministry of Transport of Russia, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, the Ministry of Health and Social Development and commercial structures, including Sevzapkanat, were pulled into the crash area (a unique equipment for lifting the ship was developed). As a result, the ship "Bulgaria" was lifted and transported to the nearest Shipyard in the Kuibyshev backwater. In parallel, all the bodies of the dead were found.

According to the final data, of the 201 people on board, 79 survived. The death of the remaining 122 people was confirmed. Among the dead is the captain of the ship "Bulgaria" Alexander Ostrovsky.

Investigative Committee Russian Federation in connection with the crash of the motor ship "Bulgaria", several criminal cases were initiated, and a number of officials were prosecuted:

On July 10, 2011, a criminal case was initiated on the grounds of a crime under Part 2 of Article 263 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on the fact of the flooding of the motor ship "Bulgaria".
On July 12, 2011, a criminal case was initiated on the grounds of a crime under Part 2 of Article 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in relation to Svetlana Inyakina (Director of LLC ArgoRechTour, sub-tenant of the motor ship Bulgaria) and Yakov Ivashov (Expert river register issued a permit for the operation of the ship "Bulgaria" in 2011).
On July 18, 2011, two criminal cases were initiated on the grounds of a crime under Art. 270 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in relation to captains Yuri Tuchin (dry cargo ship Arbat) and Alexander Yegorov (pusher Danube 66). At the same time, Yuri Tuchin became the first of the officials convicted in criminal cases related to the crash of the ship "Bulgaria" (see the events of December 26, 2011).
On August 15, 2011, a criminal case was initiated on the grounds of a crime under Art. 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in relation to Irek Timergazeev (Head of the Department of Rostransnadzor) and Vladislav Semenov (Inspector of Rostransnadzor).
Ramil Khametov, the senior assistant to the captain of the ship "Bulgaria", who survived the crash, was prosecuted on the grounds of a crime under Article 263 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Violation of traffic safety rules and operation of railway, air, sea and inland water transport and the subway).

As a result, at the preliminary investigation stage, all criminal cases (with the exception of criminal cases initiated against captains Yu. Tuchin and A. Egorov) were merged into one proceeding, and the final charges and articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation imputed to the defendants were clarified.

By the verdict of the Moscow District Court of the city of Kazan dated July 03-07, 2014, all the defendants in the criminal case were found guilty of the crimes they were accused of (except for S. Inyakina, who was acquitted under the overly imputed article 263 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). More details in the court section.

All the defendants in the aforementioned criminal cases, with the exception of two captains who did not provide assistance to those in distress and the senior assistant to the captain of the ship "Bulgaria" Ramil Khametov, were placed in custody.

Several departments have presented to the public their conclusions based on the results of checks on the fact of the crash of the ship "Bulgaria" (see section Results of the investigation)

The collapse of the ship "Bulgaria" had a great public outcry in Russia and the rest of the world, which in turn became the reason for the start of mass inspections in the industry river fleet, in the bodies of the River Register and Rostransnadzor. It was the accident of "Bulgaria" that intensified the process of adoption of the law on compulsory liability insurance of the carrier.

Memory

Within a few days after the crash of the ship "Bulgaria", many residents of Kazan came to the Kazan river port, where a spontaneous folk memorial was built, consisting of thousands of soft toys, flowers and burning candles.

On July 10, 2012, on the banks of the Volga near the village of Syukeyevo, Kamsko-Ustyinsky district, opposite the place where the ship "Bulgaria" sank, a memorial was opened in memory of the victims of this tragedy. The complex includes a wall of memory and central square as well as a chapel and a mosque. The wall of memory is made of monolithic concrete lined with granite. It depicts the sunken ship "Bulgaria" and the names of 122 victims are engraved in gold letters.

A buoy has been erected at the crash site. Vessels passing by should give a long sound signal (beep), thereby paying tribute to the memory of those who died on the ship.

The parents of five-year-old Kirill Chernov, who died in the crash of the ship "Bulgaria", announced that they would build a children's town near the village of Krasnogorsky in the Republic of Mari El with compensation funds.

In July 2013, some of the relatives of the victims of the disaster turned to the President of Tatarstan with a request to leave the ship to be disposed of as a monument as well.