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On a trip along the Volga. The flight was very ordinary. These are often called weekend flights. On Saturday evening, the motor ship "Bulgaria" left Kazan and by seven the next morning arrived in the town of Bolgar, which is about 120 kilometers downstream of the Volga. The tour of the ancient capital of the historical state of Volga Bulgaria, after which, by the way, the ship was named, lasted three hours, and by 11 am the passengers were already on board the ship. "Bulgaria" began its return journey.

In the afternoon it began to rain and thunder struck. Wind gusts reached 20 meters per second. A strong wave arose. At about half past twelve the ship began to enter a left turn. Experts note that when the rudders are shifted to the left, all ships acquire an additional dynamic roll to starboard. And “Bulgaria” has been sailing with a constant list for at least a year. On the same starboard side. The total roll angle was nine degrees. Everything would have been fine, but the starboard portholes were open. They entered the water and in an instant about 50 tons of sea water entered the ship's compartments.

But at that moment all was not lost. The captain made an attempt to correct the situation. He decided to reduce the area exposed to the wind on the left side and head into the wind. The rudders were turned 15 degrees to the left. But as a result, the tilt only intensified and 125 tons of water per minute began to flow into the compartments. In a matter of seconds, the roll increased to 20 degrees and the ship capsized to starboard.

Bulgaria crew members

According to the victims, everything happened very quickly indeed. Alena Lebedeva, a kitchen worker, was at her workplace at the time of the flooding - in the karma on the main deck, in the cafeteria for crew members.

The water came up instantly, the ship tilted so that I was almost crushed by the refrigerator - it went straight towards me, I miraculously managed to jump away,” Lebedeva recalls the terrible seconds. - But in the other compartment, a woman was first scalded with boiling water, and then crushed under furniture. She was found dead. I was almost the last one out. The mechanic and I pushed out about six people - I don’t remember exactly. On the surface, the first thing I did was look around for the children. I saw my son and daughter, my heart lightened a little. But I never found my husband.

The Lebedev family actually worked in full force on the ship "Bulgaria". Alena's husband, 39-year-old Sergei Lebedev, was a boatswain, 18-year-old daughter Dasha worked as a waitress, and 17-year-old son Sasha went on a cruise as an intern - then the guy was a first-year student at a river technical school.

KP

Many accused the crew members of erroneous and unprofessional actions. Of course, this could not have happened without this. But the boatswain Sergei Lebedev saved the drowning passengers of the ship until the end. When it began to go under water, he pulled several people out of the whirlpool. He swam to the surface and again dived into the abyss of the water. As a professional shipbuilder, Sergei was well aware that a sinking ship was being pulled to the bottom.

However, this is far from the only example of courage and bravery that the crew members showed. Sailor Vyacheslav Kolosov handed out life jackets to passengers until the last moment, without thinking about what could happen to him in the next moment. At some point the sailor lost consciousness. He woke up only in the life raft.

“I went under the water and lost consciousness there,” the sailor said. - Other passengers pulled me out.

Vyacheslav’s wife, Svetlana, recalls that after the incident, her husband could not sleep for a long time. For several days. Only the sleeping pills taken on the third day helped overcome the disturbing insomnia, but the nightmare of the experience did not leave Vyacheslav even in his sleep. All night he tried to swim somewhere.

“I’ll take him by the hand, he’ll feel my warmth and calm down,” says Sveta. - But then he waves his hands again...

Life

Captain of "Bulgaria" Alexander Ostrovsky

Two ships were passing by the Bulgaria in distress - the dry cargo ship "Arbat" and the tugboat "Dunaysky-66". Ship captains Yuri Tuchin and Alexander Egorov decided not to provide assistance to passengers and crew members who managed to escape and were on rafts in the middle of the Kuibyshev Reservoir on the Volga. They passed by. In court it turned out that the situation was not as clear-cut as it might seem at first glance. Thus, the cargo ship “Danube-66” would have to reverse to help the victims, risking catching those who managed to escape. Besides decision going further was agreed with the captain of the Arabella, which later came to the aid of the drowning people. In any case, this is Captain Egorov’s version.

However, it is difficult to fully believe in the veracity of his words. And he himself gave reason for doubt. After the tragedy, Egorov told reporters: “You yourself understand that these people are not to be trifled with.” “These people” were employees of the Gazprom company, for whom the ship under the command of Egorov was carrying cargo to Astrakhan. Whether this is a simple slip due to stress or evidence of the captain’s cowardice remains unknown.

The shipwreck killed 122 people. 79 were saved. The investigation established that one of the causes of the disaster was a non-working engine. Left main diesel generator. However, sailor Vyacheslav Kolosov and the Lebedev family spoke about the failed engine even earlier.

We were going to Zelenodolsk - this is a town fifty kilometers from Kazan,” recalled Vyacheslav Kolosov. - That's where he broke down. To return home, we started the auxiliary engine. In Kazan we entered a roadstead - this is a special area for broken ships, where they do not interfere with other ships. There were six days left until the next cruise - to Cheboksary. We weren't allowed to go until we got it fixed. We made it in time. Then we went to Cheboksary, everything was fine, no problems or breakdowns.

The engine failure was caused by a gross violation of the vessel's operating techniques. The ship was refueled with fuel, which was diluted with water. The water had to be pumped out and the fuel equipment had to be dried. Rivermen say that from time to time they actually encounter such a situation.

We find out that in diesel fuel water when equipment fails - fuel equipment, engine, electric generator - explains the captain of one of the ships. “You have to first pump out the fuel itself, and then the water that settles below. Then the equipment is “blown out” for a long time and dried.

Of course, the rising storm also played a role, but the crew of the “Bulgaria” also turned out to be unprepared for qualified actions in difficult weather conditions. Namely, he violated the technique of controlling the ship in the current conditions by starting a left turn without taking into account the characteristics of the ship's stability (stability is the ability to maintain balance). The captain did not take into account that the ship already had a list of four degrees, and the ship itself had a large windage.

The captain, Alexander Ostrovsky, died along with the ship. Of the 201 people on board, 79 were saved, 122 people died.

Context

Arkady Smolin, RAPSI correspondent

Moskovsky District Court of Kazan July 7 He sank on July 10, 2011 in the Kuibyshev Reservoir in Tatarstan, three kilometers from the shore. According to the Investigative Committee of Russia, there were 201 people on the ship at the time of the crash, of whom 122 died.

Institute of Personal Responsibility. Motor ship "Bulgaria"

This biggest disaster on the water in the newest Russian history. However, for all its extraordinary nature, it consisted of a set of typical elements of corruption and negligence, thanks to which the extreme nature of our tourist shipping could hardly be equated to that of the Philippines.

Three years ago, experts had no doubt that all the blame for the crash of the Bulgaria would be placed on the captain and his assistants, and they would be demonstrably punished. One fundamental, without exaggeration, vital question remained: what will happen to officials who, in the best traditions of Michael Bay, create scenarios for future disasters and ensure the functioning of a system of distributed responsibility where no one is interested in the result?
The catastrophic end of the Bulgaria, built in 1955 in Czechoslovakia, was predicted three months before the tragedy. On April 24, 2011, at a specialized forum, a message was addressed to ship owners and regulatory authorities: “Everything technical problems"Bulgaria" is known... If the shipowner, instead of solving these problems during the inter-navigation period, goes with them into a new navigation - all the blame is for possible consequences lies with the shipowner."

In order to prevent a disaster, it was enough to look at the technical documents of the ship. “A major overhaul was carried out on it 30 years ago, in 1980. There was no license to transport passengers. There was a malfunction of the left engine, the ship was overloaded,” she said after the disaster known facts representative of the Prosecutor General's Office Marina Gridneva. In addition, the Bulgaria did not have internal bulkheads, which should keep the ship afloat in the event of a hole.

However, the Ministry of Transport recognized the ship as absolutely operational. “The next inspection of the motor ship “Bulgaria” was carried out on June 15, 2011. Technical condition The vessel was found to be suitable in all respects. The rescue supplies met the requirements of the rules of the Russian River Register," the ministry said in a statement.

Even the passengers and crew of the motor ship "Bulgaria" tried to persuade the captain to stop the voyage, talking about breakdowns in the engine and pointing out the list of the ship, but the captain insisted on continuing the voyage, the crew's radio operator told the press. But no one and nothing could prevent the disaster. The question is, why, what is the true nature of this fate?

It's simple: the captain could not decide to go on a voyage, nor could he stop it, without indicating the owners of the company and the ship. “Someone gave him instructions to move on,” one of the crew members told the media. And overload, one of the factors that led to the shipwreck, was a direct consequence of the instructions presented to the captain of inflated demands to achieve the norm of revenue from the operation of the vessel, calculated by subtracting the cost of repairs from the amount of tickets sold. According to technical regulations, no more than 120 people could be on board the ship. In fact, there were almost twice as many of them.

The absence of the institution of personal responsibility not only allowed owners to operate unrepaired ships without life-saving equipment (as far as is known, the Bulgaria had only two self-expanding rafts, the number of which must be measured in dozens), and captains to agree to a deadly cruise. It also allowed the crew members, in violation of all written and unwritten rules, to save themselves (out of 33 crew members, 23 were saved), leaving passengers and children to perish.

What do we have in the end?

Perhaps thanks to the enormous resonance in the media surrounding the disaster, this time the court made a truly revolutionary decision, from the point of view of relevance and reform of legal consciousness. In fact, this is a precedent for the introduction of the institution of personal responsibility in Russia.

The general director of ArgoRechTur LLC, the sub-tenant of the sunken motor ship Bulgaria, Svetlana Inyakina, was sentenced to 11 years in a general regime colony. The court sentenced the head of the Kazan linear department of the Volga department of the State Marine and River Supervision of Rostransnadzor, Irek Timergazeev, and the former chief state inspector of the same department, Vladislav Semenov, to 6 and 5 years in a general regime colony, respectively. And the senior expert of the Kama branch of the Russian River Register, Yakov Ivashov, was sentenced to 5 years in prison, but he was released in the courtroom under an amnesty.

And here former first The court found the assistant captain of the sunken motor ship "Bulgaria" Ramil Khametov guilty only of violating the safety rules for operating water transport, and not at all of manslaughter, and sentenced him to 6.5 years in a general regime colony.

Captains: responsibility by default. Motor ship "Alexander Suvorov" and steamer "Admiral Nakhimov"

Before this court decision, almost always responsibility for any incident on the water was borne not by the owners who sent the unfit vessel to sail, but by the captains. For example, the captain of the Alexander Suvorov, Vladimir Kleimenov, was sentenced to ten years in prison.

© Maxim Bogdanov

The ship crashed on the Volga on June 5, 1983. In clear visibility, albeit in the twilight at 22:45, “Alexander Suvorov” at a maximum speed of 25 kilometers per hour entered the span of the Ulyanovsk railway bridge, unsuitable for large-sized shipping. The impact cut off the pilothouse and the entire upper deck along with the cinema hall. The death toll, according to various sources, ranged from 176 to 600 people. This uncertainty is due to the fact that the ship was overloaded.

Experts came to the conclusion that the cause of the disaster was four factors: the negligence of the first navigator, the negligence of the helmsman, the absence of signal lights on the bridge, and also the fact that on the span through which the ship could not pass, there was a lineman's booth, which in its outline resembled a ship's shield. span. In addition, by that time, ship captains had been complaining for several months about the emergency condition of the bridge and the adjacent section, but the railway workers had not taken the necessary measures.

Having studied all these factors, the investigation chose to place all the blame on the captain, who was resting in the cabin at the time of the collision. Since no bodily injuries were found on the captain, and the ship’s crew did not show any signs of discipline after the disaster, Kleimenov was also given responsibility for withdrawing from rescuing the victims. In the seventh year of imprisonment, the captain of the Alexander Suvorov was later released for health reasons and died of a heart attack a few months later.

Similar circumstances accompanied the “crime” of the captain of the steamship “Admiral Nakhimov” Vadim Markov. Actually, his guilt, for which he was sentenced to four years, was that the captain, having set the speed and course of the ship, headed to his cabin at 11 p.m. Second officer Chudnovsky remained on the bridge, who on August 31, 1986 discovered a dangerous approach to the dry cargo ship Pyotr Vasev at the exit from the port of Novorossiysk. He contacted him and clarified the divergence procedure, to which he received confirmation that the cargo ship was allowing the steamer through.

As a result, “Pyotr Vasev”, having managed to reduce the speed to only 5 knots, entered the middle of the starboard side of the ship. According to the official version, 423 passengers and crew members died as a result of the disaster. In March 1987, captains Markov and Viktor Tkachenko (“Peter Vasev”) were found guilty under Article 85 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR (“Violation of traffic safety rules and operation of transport”): the first received four years, the second - ten years in prison (according to other sources, they both received 15 years in prison). In November 1992, by decrees of the presidents of Ukraine and Russia, both captains were pardoned and released.

© Nautical encyclopedia

Thus, instead of analyzing all the reasons that created the preconditions for the tragedy to occur (an emergency bridge, an ill-conceived system of signs, failures in the rules of movement along the bay...), searching for those responsible (at the risk of reaching too high a authorities), the investigation often shows similar negligence, throwing off all blame the captain, even if he could not have made a mistake, being in a dream at that moment.

Captains as cover. Costa Concordia liner and Novorossiysk battleship

However, in the 21st century, even in European countries, the situation has not changed much. As in the Middle Ages, captains bear responsibility for everything, and the policies of ship-owning companies and the actions of officials are almost never accepted by the court for consideration. Even such a high-profile story as the sinking of the Costa Concordia, the “new Titanic,” will obviously end with a verdict for one captain. The only thing that might surprise you is the record length of imprisonment.

The prosecution proposed giving Captain Francesco Schettino 15 years in prison for causing death by negligence, 10 years for the sinking of the liner, 8 years for each of the more than 300 passengers remaining on board the Costa Concordia, after Schettino successfully completed the operation to save himself , and the same number of years for each deceased. In total, Schettino faces 2,697 years in prison.

You can find a certain logic in this; it is much more difficult to detect its signs in the actions of the investigation. Having studied numerous cases of violations of shipping rules committed by Schettino, the investigators and the court were not interested in the paradoxical fact: how Schettino managed to do this, starting his career at Costa Cruises (a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc) in 2002 as the head of the security service, already four years later, receive an appointment as captain of the Costa Concordia, despite the fact that, according to the rules, this requires a twenty-year-old professional experience?

© REUTERS/, Paul Hanna

According to Der Spiegel, the company forgave Schettino's numerous antics and turned a blind eye to violations because Costa Cruises used his face for marketing purposes. Advertising pictures of the recent past showed Schettino standing on the bridge, confidently guiding his ship across the Hudson with the Manhattan skyline in the background. Such an exemplary captain admitted that he had already repeatedly performed that same fatal maneuver: he brought the ship closer to the shore of the island of Giglio to greet his friend, the former captain of the Costa Concordia, who lived there. It's hard to believe that none of the company's management knew about this.

The disaster occurred near the island of Giglio in the Mediterranean Sea on January 13, 2012, when there were 3,216 passengers from 62 countries and 1,023 crew members on board the liner. The ship deviated from course by 3-4 miles and hit a rock reef, receiving a hole 53 meters long and up to 7.3 meters wide. The crew of the Costa Concordia failed the rescue operation. For almost an hour after the collision, the captain prevented evacuation, twice announcing that the ship was simply having minor problems with its generator. Schettino himself, according to investigators, was one of the first to leave the ship, without sending a distress signal. Thus, he avoided the panic and crush that began closer to 11 p.m., when the list reached 30 degrees and a signal sounded, meaning that passengers had to leave the ship.

After 32 deaths were reported, Captain Schettino gave new testimony, accusing the manager of Carnival Corporation & plc, which owned the ship, of telling him where to sail and forcing him to come too close to the shore. However, this information did not have any judicial follow-up. It turns out that Russian justice, which imprisoned the company’s management, which, according to some sources, forced the captain of the faulty Bulgaria to board the flight, turned out to be more progressive than Italian justice.

Another interesting story of a water disaster that connects Russia and Italy even more closely, the mystery of the sinking of the battleship Novorossiysk, after more than half a century, may have received an unexpected outcome.

On the evening of October 28, 1955, the battleship returned from events celebrating the centenary of the defense of Sevastopol and took its place on the “barrel.” At half past one in the morning, an explosion equivalent to 1000-1200 kg of TNT was heard under the hull of the ship in the bow. It pierced the hull of the battleship, tore out part of the deck and punched a hole of 150 square meters in the underwater part. Since the bow cockpits were located at the site of the explosion, between 150 and 175 people were immediately killed.

The commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Vice Admiral Viktor Parkhomenko, who promptly arrived on the ship, stopped the towing of the battleship in shallow water. When he decided to personally give a similar order, it already turned out to be meaningless: bow sat down on the ground. The admiral did not immediately allow the evacuation of the sailors not engaged in rescue work, of whom up to a thousand people had accumulated on the quarterdeck. When the decision to evacuate was made, the ship's roll began to rapidly increase. The battleship lay on its left side, buried its masts in the ground and soon completely disappeared under water. The disaster killed 604 people, including emergency consignments from other ships of the squadron.

According to the official version put forward by a government commission, the battleship was blown up by a bottom magnetic mine installed by the Germans in 1944 when leaving Sevastopol. Even then, this version raised great doubts among experts: the power sources of the bottom mines cleared in the fifties turned out to be discharged, and the fuses were inoperative.

As a result of the investigation, the following were demoted in rank and position, with a reprimand: Admiral, Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Navy Nikolai Kuznetsov, Vice Admiral, Commander of the Black Sea Fleet Viktor Parkhomenko, Vice Admiral Nikolai Kulakov, Rear Admiral Anatoly Galitsky, Rear Admiral Nikolai Nikolsky. Since the captain's in this case There was no way to blame, no one sat down.

And only in August 2013, former saboteur of the Italian special unit of combat swimmers Ugo D'Esposito told 4Arts that “the explosion of a Soviet battleship of the Black Sea Fleet in 1955 in the port of Sevastopol was the work of the Italian Navy. The command of the 10th flotilla did not want to see the Novorossiysk.” "as a Soviet battleship. The ship, under the name Giulio Cesare, belonged to the Italian fleet until 1949."

After this statement, Russian veteran sailors, many of whom became disabled after the incident, demanded an international investigation into the destruction of the ship.

XIX century as a starting point. Atlantic and Princess Alice

The current legislation of the Western world, aimed at captains, is apparently a legacy of the 19th century, when the code of maritime traditions was reduced by companies rushing in pursuit of the primary accumulation of capital to the sole responsibility of the captain, in order to avoid the risk of paying compensation.

Many books are dedicated to the series of grandiose shipwrecks of that century, the number of victims of which numbered in the hundreds. Out of a dozen examples, two can be identified that characterize the three main reasons for “lawlessness on the water”: inflated requirements for economic efficiency, poor knowledge of the seabed, and lack of development of laws and regulations. The captains were powerless in front of all three, which did not protect them from unfair accusations.

For example, it is believed that the English passenger steamer Atlantic was lost on the rocks off the coast of Nova Scotia on April 1, 1873 due to a navigational error by Captain Williams. The disaster, which claimed the lives of 547 people, was preceded by a strong storm that lasted several days. He forced the captain to slow down and go at a speed of five knots. The bad weather had a bad effect on the crew and passengers: fights became more frequent, and sailors began stealing alcohol from the warehouse.

Before going to sea, the captain received a strict requirement from the owners of the White Star company to arrive in New York exactly at the appointed time. White Star fought for control of the Atlantic Blue Ribbon by recruiting risk-taking young captains and forcing them to violate safety and security regulations. common sense. However, on this voyage, due to the storm, the Atlantic was so behind schedule that there was enough coal left in its bunker for 15-20 hours, and enough water and food for two days, and there was another 740 km to go.

Captain Williams decided to go to the nearest port of Halifax, where he had never been before. A few tens of meters from the shore, the ship hit underwater rocks. Atlantic tilted to port, and all the boats on this side were washed away by huge waves. Twenty minutes later, the ship broke, the bow of the Atlantic capsized to the left side, and the stern, where almost all the women and children were, quickly sank. Captain Williams and First Officer Firth remained on the ship until the end.

When investigating the causes of the shipwreck, it turned out that the Atlantic ran into the rocks of the island of Mars behind the Sambro lighthouse, the fire of which was never seen through the fog by the second mate. He was looking for a lighthouse light on the port side, when in fact Atlantic should have left it on the starboard side. The captain was blamed for everything, but the punishment was relatively light: Williams was deprived of his captain's diploma.

The captain of Princess Alice, William Grinstead, found himself in an even more hopeless situation. On September 3, 1878, this English river excursion steamer sank on the Thames after colliding with the cargo ship Bywell Castle. As a result of the “Great Thames Tragedy,” more than 700 people died, most of whom were women and children.

These two ships noticed each other at half past seven in the evening, when visibility was excellent and the width of the Thames at the meeting point of the ships was approximately 500 meters. The only problem was that in those years in England there were no uniform rules for the separation of maritime and river boats on the river fairway.

While the steamships approached each other, darkness fell, and each of the captains was able to judge the course of the oncoming ship only by the position of the navigation lights. They did not understand each other's maneuvers; the collier hit the starboard side of the Princess Alice with its straight stem just behind the paddle wheel. The steamship's bow destroyed the engine room and actually cut the ship's hull in half.

The collision could still be attributed to an accident. Moreover, it is not entirely fatal. After the impact, the bow of Bywell Castle remained for some time in the hole in the side of the Princess Alice, which was still afloat. However main mistake was carried out by the coal miner's captain Thomas Harrison, who gave the command "reverse". The stem of the steamer was freed from the hole, into which water poured in. The hull of Princess Alice almost immediately broke into two parts and sank.
The case was reviewed by the Admiralty Court, which came to the conclusion that the blame lay entirely with the deceased captain of Princess Alice. Harrison and the legislators were not involved in the tragedy.

Turning processes. Liners Empress of Ireland and La Bourgogne

Well, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, water disasters became so frequent and took on such enormous proportions that continuing to turn a blind eye to the inhumane policies of companies could undermine public trust in aquatic species transport in principle, not to mention retaliatory actions and the transformation of some ships into zones free from the law and laws of behavior.

An important precedent was the Empress of Ireland trial. This Canadian passenger liner on May 29, 1914, during its regular flight collided with the Norwegian coal carrier Sturstadt on the St. Lawrence River. After 14 minutes, it sank, killing 1014 people out of 1477. The details of the disaster are very reminiscent of what happened with Princess Alice - only the collision occurred a little later, at 2 am, and in heavy fog.

© wikipedia.org

Sturstadt made the same mistake by backing up, but the Canadian court, perhaps to avoid further duplication of this fatal mistake, nevertheless blamed the coal carrier pilot for the death of the liner. The surviving captain of the Empress of Ireland was also among the suspects. A Canadian company won a lawsuit against A.F. Klaveness, owner of Sturstadt. The court ordered the owner to pay Canada $2 million. Unable to pay his bills, Klaveness was forced to sell the Sturstadt, which needed repairs, for $175,000 and declare bankruptcy. Thus, a precedent was created for holding the owner, and not just the captain or pilot, liable.

This was an extremely relevant precedent, since the actual irresponsibility of the remaining crew members, except the captain, led to the fact that ship crews forgot about all traditional norms of behavior on the ship and even became potentially dangerous to passengers.

After the La Bourgogne tragedy on July 4, 1898, it became obvious that if we continued to place all the blame on the captains, the passenger fleet would eventually turn into a pirate fleet.

La Bourgogne left New York with more than 597 passengers and 128 crew on board, and collided with the barque Cromartyshire at about 5 a.m., off Sable Island, in thick fog. The boats on the starboard side of the liner were broken, the captain of La Bourgogne decided to throw the ship onto a sandbank, but the flooding proceeded quickly and less than an hour after the collision the liner sank.

However, this was only a prelude to the real catastrophe of humanism. As soon as the ship began to sink, a bloody orgy reigned on the deck. Many passengers were killed in the struggle for space in the lifeboats, in fights for life jackets, and even after the ship plunged into the abyss. The instigators of the riots were Austrian sailors. They began shooting at other passengers as they made their way to the lifeboats. Third class passengers followed their example: people from the lower classes used knives. When the liner sank, people swam to the boats or rafts, but those sitting in them beat the drowning people on the head with oars and cut the fingers that grabbed the sides.

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

The Moscow court of Kazan sentenced the director of ArgoRechTour LLC Svetlana Inyakina, subtenant of the motor ship "Bulgaria", to 11 years of imprisonment in a general regime 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 sublessee of the motor ship "Bulgaria" did not ensure that the vessel was prepared for sailing, did not train the crew, and violated the rules for operating a river vessel. Also in this case, the senior mate of the vessel Ramil Khametov sentenced to 6.5 years in prison in a general regime colony, and former employees 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 Syukeevo, Kamsko-Ustinovsky district of the Republic of Tatarstan, the passenger airliner "Bulgaria" sank during a thunderstorm. 122 people died in this disaster, including 28 children. The chronology of events is reminiscent of AiF.ru

July 9, 2011 The double-deck motor ship "Bulgaria" (designed in Czechoslovakia in 1955) left the port in Kazan on a two-day cruise. At that time, the vessel was listing to starboard and the starboard engine was not working. There were 201 people on board the ship, including 147 passengers. The route of the ship passed through the waters of the 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 list to the starboard side, as a result of which water rushed into the open portholes. The sinking of the ship happened very quickly. Less than 2 minutes later, "Bulgaria" turned 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 Danube-66 passed by the wrecked liner, but, as the investigation found out, the captains of these ships did not stop to provide assistance to the victims. At about 2:30 p.m., the cruise ship Arabella approached the crash site, and its crew members began a rescue operation. The survivors were given first aid; the seriously injured were sent to a hospital in Kazan. Specialists from the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, psychologists and rescuers from the Leader Center team arrived at the crash site. Diving work has begun in the flooded area.

The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under Article 263 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Violation of traffic safety rules 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 began on the owner and lessee of the ship "Bulgaria", since, according to the Volga Transport Prosecutor's Office, the cruise ship did not have a license to transport passengers and was sailing in violation of the technical regulations for the operation of the ship. President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev gave orders to begin unscheduled total inspections of civilian passenger ships.

July 12, 2011 year was declared a day of mourning throughout Russia, funerals of the identified bodies of the dead began. In relation to the director of ArgoRechTour LLC, the subtenant of the ship Svetlana Inyakina and expert of the Kama branch of the Russian River Register Yakova Ivashova, who issued permission to operate the Bulgaria, a criminal case was initiated. In addition, cargo ships were identified that did not provide assistance to the Bulgaria in distress.

July 13, 2011 Diving work continued at the site where the ship sank. Suspects Inyakina and Ivashov were temporarily detained in pre-trial detention center at the request of senior investigator Sergei Chernyshov.

July 15, 2011 The search work of divers on the sunken ship ended, 114 bodies of the dead were discovered, of which 20 were men, 66 women and 28 children. Search work continued down the Volga River. Began preparatory work on the rise of "Bulgaria". A criminal case was opened against the captains of two ships who did not provide assistance to the victims, Alexander Egorov (the ship “Dunaysky-66”) and Yuri Tuchin (the ship “Arbat”) 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 Ministry of Emergency Situations were awarded medals "For the Commonwealth in the Name of Rescue."

22 - July 25, 2011 Inyakina and Ivashov were preliminary charged with committing a crime under Article 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The Bulgaria's hull 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 discovered, those who were previously considered missing. The search work ended, as all those killed 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 Administrative Code (“Carrying out business activities in the field of transport without a license”) and imposed a fine of 50,000 rubles.

August 15, 2011 The results of an investigation into the circumstances of the ship's crash were published on the Rostransnadzor website. The main reasons were identified as a technical malfunction of the vessel, violations of safety rules by the shipowner and captain of the liner, low qualifications and negligence of crew members.

August 16, 2011 Investigative 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 Bulgaria vessel 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 Kama-Ustinsky Court of the Republic of Tatarstan, hearings began in the case against the captain of the dry cargo ship "Arbat" Yuri 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 Danube-66 vessel, Alexander Egorov, but it was decided to move the trial to Kazan, where most of the victims and witnesses lived.

February 28, 2012 The captain of the ship "Dunaysky-66" was found guilty and sentenced to pay a fine of 190,000 rubles.

May 11, 2012 The Russian Investigative Committee announced the completion of the investigation into the circumstances of the crash of the Bulgaria. It became known that the senior mate of the ship's captain, 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, violating safety rules for the operation of inland water transport and violating labor protection rules. Yakov Ivashov was charged with illegally issuing official documents that allowed “Bulgaria” to carry out passenger transportation, and abuse of official powers. Ramil Khametov was accused of violating traffic safety rules and operating water transport, and Irek Timergazeev and Vladislav Semyonov were accused of abuse of power.

January 11, 2013 investigators stated that the case is about the crash of the Bulgaria in 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 ArgoRechTur LLC, 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 hearing, the judge granted the petition of Semenov and Timergazeev due to the fact that the defendants needed additional time to familiarize themselves with the case materials.

Meeting May 27, 2013 was delayed, the consideration was postponed to the next day. On May 28, the indictment against Yakov Ivashov was read out, and the meeting ended. Further consideration of the case was postponed, and a final ruling in the case has not yet been made.

Today's Sunday is overshadowed by a message from Tatarstan, where the passenger motor ship "Bulgaria" sank under still unclear circumstances on the largest reservoir of the Volga, Kuibyshevsky. At this point, 84 people are known to have been saved and one person died. Thus, the fate of another 102 people remains officially unknown.

The ship belonged to the Agrorechtur company and performed a so-called weekend trip. The night before, "Bulgaria" left Kazan and at 7 am today moored in the town of Bolgar.

Passengers returned to the ship around 11 am. It set off on its way back and a couple of hours later, for unknown reasons, sank opposite the village of Syukeevo. Despite the fact that everything happened on the river, in essence the Kuibyshev Reservoir is a freshwater sea. The distance from the crash site to the shore is about 3 km, the depth there is 20 meters. It is reported that there were many passengers with children on board.

Head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations Sergei Shoigu informed Dmitry Medvedev about the progress of rescue work at the disaster site. According to the Kremlin press service, the minister reported to the president by telephone about the measures being taken to rescue the victims and about the rescue operation in general. The Ministry of Emergency Situations is also sending an Il-76 plane with divers and rescuers to Tatarstan.

Dmitry Medvedev ordered the head of the republic to provide all necessary assistance to the victims, the head of the investigative committee, Alexander Bastrykin, to create a special investigative group.

The Department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in Tatarstan has opened a “hotline”, through which you can now find out about the fate of the passengers and crew members who were on the ship.

(843) 22746 -55
Telephone hotline Ministry of Emergency Situations for Tatarstan, where you can now find out all the information about survivors.

Alexey Mavrin, correspondent, especially for NTV: “I’m right on the shore within sight of the shipwreck. Right about 2.5 kilometers away from me there are several ships that outline the site of the supposed shipwreck. The ship "Bulgaria" sank about 8 kilometers from the coast. And now it is at the bottom, at a depth of 20 meters. The ship sank in no more than five minutes, but most of those on board managed to escape either in lifeboats or by wearing life belts and vests. About fifty people could have boarded the next tourist ship on the same course.”

Emergency Ministry employees are trying to help the victims. The nearby islands are being surveyed. According to eyewitnesses, the pleasure boat "Bulgaria" was caught in a storm and capsized.

Svetlana Imyakina, director of Argorechtur LLC: “Nothing is known. The ship "Arabella" will arrive now. Everything was in front of “Arabella”. There is no contact with them yet. Economy class motor ship. Repair, renovation work were held. He departed on the 18th. Everything was fine, everything was great. I don’t know what happened.”

We have only fragmentary data about the weather that was at the time of the incident. From the words of an eyewitness, we know that the weather was normal, at times it rained and there was a thunderstorm. But overall everything was fine, there was no particular disturbance at the reservoir.

Information about the number of rescued people is constantly changing. So far we can confidently talk about 85 passengers and crew members. posted on the website of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Tatarstan.

It is known about the sunken ship that it is a “Project 785” motor ship, built in Czechoslovakia back in 1955. That is, he was practically a museum exhibit. And earlier this diesel-electric ship had a different name - “Ukraine”.

"Bulgaria" was making one of the weekend tours. Kazan Bulgar and back. A two-day trip at a reasonable price: tickets cost from 1200 to 5000 rubles. Why the ship sank on the way back is not yet clear, but there was a different opinion on Internet forums: it’s strange that this diesel-electric ship is still in operation at all.

From 2003 to 2010, no one used the old “Ukraina” at all, but in 2010 it was renamed “Bulgaria”, and it worked for a season for the Vodoflot company. Reviews from tourists were, to put it mildly, not very good. And if you believe online forums, then just a few days ago the following happened to the Bulgaria: the engine stalled three times during the voyage. The last time 100 meters before the quay wall of the Kazan port.

The departure for this ill-fated flight was delayed for a week until money was collected for the vouchers in order to patch up the technical flaws. As a result, there was not enough money to feed tourists. There wasn't even enough bread.

On board as drinking water passengers drank outboard Volga water. The speed of movement of this old galosh turned out to be such that every time she was several hours late in arriving at the port. Because of this, excursions were reduced or even cancelled.

Tour operators who sold tickets for Bulgaria cruises assured that the ship met all safety requirements. And tomorrow the veteran ship was supposed to depart for a week-long cruise along the route Kazan Samara Volgograd.

Most of the Bulgaria passengers were not insured, since insurance was not included in the ticket price. The distribution of tickets was carried out, in particular, by the company "Intour Volga". Most of the places were purchased there.

As noted NTV correspondent Sergei Morozov, several more such vessels are in operation in Russia, including two on the Volga. According to experts, design feature This series of ships lacks internal watertight bulkheads. So, in the event of a large hole in the bottom, the ship sinks in a matter of minutes. It is possible that this is exactly what happened today.

And now two most important questions. First: what about the people who are listed as missing? And second: why did the ship sink? Experts from several departments will look for answers to these questions. Rosmorrechflot reported that its head, Alexander Davydenko, had already flown to Kazan, and the deputy head of Rostransnadzor, Vladimir Popov, also went to the scene of the tragedy.

In the Ministry of emergency situations called an emergency meeting

Egor Kolyvanov, NTV correspondent: “Yes, there is still a meeting of the operational headquarters in the building of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, which will work until the end of rescue and search work at the scene. Headquarters in Tatarstan and the Volga region are constantly in touch with Moscow and provide the latest information.”

Irina Andrianova, head of the information department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation: “Search and rescue work is currently ongoing at the site, 80 people and 22 pieces of equipment are working, in addition to the Arabella motor ship, now 2 more motor ships have arrived at the site of the death of the Bulgaria motor ship. This is a motor ship
“Reef” and motor ship “Island”. In addition, 2 more patrol ships will arrive there in the near future.”

The operational headquarters of the Ministry of Emergency Situations also could not explain or name the reason why the motor ship "Bulgaria" sank, but at least they did not confirm to us the information that the ship capsized.

At 19:30, an Il-76 plane with 30 people on board will take off from Ramenskoye - these are rescuers and divers who will carry out this rescue operation. There will also be special diving and search equipment on board the aircraft. Now the ship itself is not visible - only a huge oil stain on the surface of the water.

Most of the ship's passengers are residents of Kazan. Their relatives and friends, having learned about what had happened, began to gather at the Kazan river port, where the ship was supposed to return.

The Investigative Committee of Russia reported that a criminal case has already been opened regarding the emergency with the motor ship “Bulgaria” under the article “Violation of safety rules for the movement of water transport and the operation of ships.”

Investigative source ITAR-TASS reported: “According to preliminary main versions, the ship could have sunk either because it was too old. The possibility of overload cannot be ruled out. There is no information about a possible collision of the vessel.”

This is not the first major shipwreck on the river. Just six months ago, due to the fault of a drunken navigator, a motor ship on the Amur crashed into the shore. But the disaster of the motor ship "Alexander Suvorov" is better known. In 1983, he crashed into a bridge in Ulyanovsk in the middle of the night. Hundreds of people died. Then, during the investigation, it turned out that the ship was overloaded: there were many more passengers on it than stated.

Disaster of the motor ship "Bulgaria"

On Sunday, July 10, the double-deck cruise ship “Bulgaria” sank in the Kuibyshev Reservoir on the Volga. The ship, which had 188 people on board, including passengers and staff, sank to the bottom in just a few minutes. The tragedy occurred in the area of ​​the village of Syukeevo, Kamsko-Ustinsky 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.

Rescuers have managed to bring to the surface only the bodies of nine passengers from the Bulgaria motor ship that quickly sank 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 low. According to preliminary data, there were 70 more people sailing on the Bulgaria than required according to the regulations.

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

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

"Bulgaria" capsized 30 kilometers from Kazan, in the Kamsko-Ustinsky district. Official reasons have not yet been announced. It is known that the weather on the Volga was bad: a strong gusty wind was blowing and there was a thunderstorm. The ship could not maintain its balance due to overload. According to Panshin, according to technical regulations, no more than 120 people, including crew members, could be on board the Bulgaria.

Most of those rescued were picked up by the passing ship Arabella. Its captain informed the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the republic about the emergency, and in the evening the ship delivered the rescued to Kazan.

Passengers told reporters that two ships sailed past them before the Arabella, but neither stopped, and from the sides they saw drowning people filming them Cell phones passengers.

The fate of more than 100 people remains unknown. The chances of finding survivors are getting less and less. The weather makes the divers' work difficult. In addition, fuel leaks from the ship's tanks, and rescuers cannot spend long periods of time in the water.

Additional lighting equipment has been installed at the site of the wreck of the motor ship "Bulgaria", and divers are inspecting the ship. According to the results of the examination, the chances of finding survivors are minimal,” ITAR-TASS quotes a representative of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The department told RIA Novosti that divers saw “many corpses” in one of the premises. 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.

"Bulgaria" is a fairly 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 inspected on June 15, 2011 and was found technically fit. However, the Rossiya 24 TV channel reported that the Bulgaria had only two 20-seat life rafts, and not four, as required by regulations.

The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation disseminated information according to which the ship left the port of Kazan with a faulty engine. In connection with the incident, a criminal case was opened under the article “violation of safety rules for the operation of ships.”

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

View from afar.

Passengers of the motor ship "Bulgaria" said that several emergency exits were closed or welded shut. Because of this, people were unable to get out interior spaces on deck.

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

No passengers

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

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 for passenger transportation at all. On July 3, he was returning from a cruise flight on the route Kazan - Perm - Kazan. During the flight the engine stalled three times. The last time was a hundred meters before 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?!). The departure for this ill-fated flight was delayed for a week until the money for the vouchers was collected in order to patch up the technical flaws. As a result, there was not enough money to feed tourists. There wasn't even enough bread. While the ship was standing in the lock of the hydroelectric power station (Tchaikovsky), the crew’s sailors were running for bread. On board, passengers drank outboard Volga (Kama) water as drinking water. The speed of movement of this old galosh turned out to be such that every time she was several hours late in arriving at the port. Because of this, excursions were reduced or even cancelled. But the owners of this vessel, not wanting to lose their profits, have already sold tickets for the next voyage. In order to return to the port of Kazan on time, the planned and promised excursions to passengers in Tchaikovsky, Sarapul, and green parking were cancelled. Despite the fact that the passengers on this flight were disabled people and pensioners - people who had been saving money for this trip all year. They asked the captain (who, by the way, never came out to the public during the entire voyage) not to deprive them of the promised excursions. But he was adamant and carried out 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 we had to supply power from the tug to raise the anchor. And with two tugboats put Bulgaria against the quay wall. You cannot offend innocent people and profit at their expense, receiving money for services not provided and very unobtrusive “service”!