In 2011, July 26 from the depths of KuibyshevBulgaria was raised near the reservoir near the village of Syukeevo, Republic of Tatarstan. The ship, which keeps a dark and sad memory of the terrible tragedy that occurred on July 10.
The ship was built in 1955 in Czechoslovakia. Since then it has never been overhauled. The original name of the ship - "Ukraine".
It can be noted that the sailors have one superstition: you can not change the name of the ship, under any circumstances. However, in 2001 the ship was given a new name - “Bulgaria”.
It coincided that the Kuibyshev reservoirIt was organized in 1955, when the Zhigulevskaya hydroelectric power station was built, overlapping the Volga. At that time, hundreds of villages remained under water with the remains of residential buildings.
The crash site of the "Bulgaria" was the same ill-fated place where once this ship had already suffered trouble.
July 9 is the first day of the usual cruise of “Bulgaria” along the Volga ... No one could even imagine that this trip would turn into a terrible tragedy for the whole of Russia.
After a safe arrival in Bolgar, on the second day (July 10, 2011), closer to dinner, at about 15 minutes past eleven, the vessel headed for the return trip. In total, it was 201 passengers.
A message was received from radio operators about the deteriorationweather Wind gusts were supposed to be up to 18 m / s, and this is quite a tolerable normal phenomenon. However, after a while the wind began to increase and gradually turned into a storm. The ship began to roll.
At that time, in the engine room of the vessel asusually worked as machinists who were engaged in troubleshooting in one of the engines that broke at the very beginning of the tour. This is practically a common, frightening and reparable situation for sailors.
And yet it said that the "Bulgaria" -motor ship, which has long been in need of major repairs. And with all this, tickets for the nearest few cruises were sold out long ago, and no one was going to cancel them.
Unfortunately, two ships sailing past a sinking ship, the cargo ship Arbat and the pusher Danube 66, did not provide Bulgaria and its passengers with the necessary assistance.
The captain of the tourist vessel was Alexander Ostrovsky. According to eyewitnesses, he tried to bring the ship aground, but the ship did not reach her very little.
Perhaps the captain at that time realized that the shipsuffers an inevitable catastrophe. Although the speed was maximum, the ship did not reach the shallow depth of only 40 meters. According to the calculations of representatives of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, in the event of the vessel being stranded, the results and consequences of the tragedy would not be so terrible and tragic.
Captain Alexander Ostrovsky along with many passengers died. On the same boat was the sister of the captain, who also died.
Vasily Bairashev, a senior electrician of the motor ship, said that the captain had hoped to the last to save the ship and passengers and was trying to do something.
It happened from the coast three kilometers away.The terrible accident suffered the ship "Bulgaria". The dead - 122 people. In total, 79 passengers were rescued, 14 of them were immediately hospitalized. The rescued were taken to the city of Kazan on board another cruise ship, the Arabella.
In early 2013, the investigation of the criminal case on the incident with “Bulgaria” was completed.
The company's general director, the subtenant of the motor ship, Svetlana Inyakina, was subsequently given a reduced punishment: 11 years replaced by 9 and a half years in a penal colony.
Also deserve the punishment followingpersons under investigation in this case: R. Khametov (assistant to the captain of "Bulgaria") was sentenced to 6.5 years; Irek Timergazeev, head of the Kazan department of the Volga Department of the State Mormonia Supervision Agency, 6 years in prison; former heads. state inspector of the same department Vladislav Semenov - 5 years; Yakov Ivashov, a senior expert at Rosrechregistr (Kama branch), was released from the punishment imposed and released in the courtroom, under an amnesty (he was initially sentenced to 5 and a half years).
The captains "Arbat" and "Danube-66" were fined 130-190 thousand rubles.
The main reasons for the collapse of Bulgaria are heavy wear of the vessel, congestion of its passengers and gross violations during operation, as well as a strong storm.
In addition, the vessel’s subtenants did not have the necessary permits to use it for tourist cruises.
233 people maximum construction projectwas supposed to hold "Bulgaria". The motor ship is designed for 140 passengers. On that cruise aboard was 201 people with a lot of children. Among the passengers were pregnant women.
Many reasons accompanied such a tragic outcome of the Bulgaria journey.
One of the reasons was not enough correct.technical equipment with rescue equipment. On many of the bodies of the drowned, recovered by divers, were vests. However, they did not save anyone. Which means they did not meet the necessary requirements.
Много людей было во внутренних помещениях "Bulgaria". They did not even have time to run out to the deck. It all happened very quickly. According to eyewitnesses, the ship took just two or three minutes to sink into the water. For such a time, there were no chances for passengers to get out of the cabins and holds.
Most importantly, the ship was technically faultyand walked with a big roll to starboard. It was this very side that scooped up a large amount of water when turning, which became the main reason for the vessel’s departure under water.
Причины кораблекрушений подобного рода всегда не single, complex. The most plausible in this catastrophe are the above or a combination of various causes: congestion of the vessel; technical issues; adverse weather conditions; inadequate rescue equipment. All this as a whole led to terrible misfortune — the death of more than a hundred people (of which 28 are children).
All tourist ships have a specialprogram animators at the time of deterioration of weather conditions during the trip. She had her and "Bulgaria". The motor ship contained a game music room for such occasions. All children were invited to the feast. The oldest child was 12 years old.
At the time when the ship began to lurch, childrenenjoyed the show. Frightened children shouted, called for help from their parents. Due to the fact that adults rushed to save their children, a crush began. In this situation, only 79 out of 201 passengers were able to escape, 28 children died.
Relatively happy were those whothe moment of the beginning of the tragedy was at the top, on the deck - they were simply washed away with water. Survived by those who could hold on rafts and other objects on the surface of the water. Many simply held on to something. Many did not even have time to fully realize what had happened.
Their hope of salvation increased when the Arbat and Dunaysky-66 appeared on the horizon. Awful - they passed by.
Saved testify that the "Bulgaria" sank in a couple of minutes. They didn’t even have time to lower the boats, only two inflatable rafts opened up.
Один из выживших рассказал, что отдыхал на ship together with his wife. At that moment, when the "Bulgaria" began to roll, he grabbed his spouse by the hand and ran out onto the deck. There are already crowded many passengers. The man found a life preserver and, tying him to his wife, threw her overboard. Behind her, he was able to send a man with two children there too, and then he jumped into the water himself. They were rescued by local fishermen in boats.
Another man told how he saved a 5-year-old baby who lost his mother and grandmother, and then saved a woman. However, to save his wife, and pregnant, he failed.
There are a lot of such heart-rending stories in every surviving passenger of Bulgaria. And almost all of them claim that many crew members tried to save themselves in the first place.
The Kuibyshev reservoir witnessed a terrible tragedy that brought death to the people who set off on a pleasant journey. This disaster is a consequence of unpardonable irresponsibility.
