RUSSIANS WAIT FOR
FERRY SALVAGE TEN DAYS AFTER Russia's worst boat disaster when the cruise vessel Bulgaria sank on the Volga River on July 10, killing about 129 people, salvage experts were still struggling to raise her from the riverbed after a heavy cable snapped.
Divers had expanded the search to more than 200km downstream of the accident site, a wide bend on the river. Some survivors said the crew ignored passengers in their haste to abandon the Bulgaria, which had about 208 people on board. Thirty to 40 children had assembled in an inside hall for an entertainment programme before the sinking and drowned there. Their bodies could only be recovered after the vessel was raised, a source said. Some survivors waited 90 minutes to be rescued from the
water, while others were able to swim to the shore. The accident sparked fury in Russia at the industry's lax controls. The 56-year-old double-decker had problems with one engine, electrical faults and was listing to starboard when she sailed.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the Bulgaria operated without a licence and blamed the disaster on local tour operators. The tour operator and licensing official have been arrested. The Bulgaria sank in three minutes with music still playing, and only two lifeboats could be deployed in time. The cause of the sinking appeared to have been a lack of airconditioning. The crew opened portholes, which allowed water from an incoming wave to flood the interior. Divers found evidence of people trying to break locked portholes from inside.
Russian newspapers said 120 river cruise ships currently operate in European Russia. There was not a single new vessel and 70 were more than 40 years old.
Dumped net angers fisherman
COMMERCIAL FISHERMAN LES Poulsen believes the dumped net he hauled up while fishing off Blueskin Bay on the Otago coast in late July may have come from one of the foreign-owned fishing vessels which visit Dunedin and are known to anchor in the area. Poulsen, the skipper of the Pioneer II, said he was fishing off the bay when he hauled up the 100m-long net. It looked as if it had been deliberately dumped, with several tonnes of old rope weighing it down. "They think it is cheaper than getting a skip in at the wharf." Poulsen said he had lost two days of fishing. "It's cost me the best part of a thousand bucks."
The rope and netting were a potential environmental and shipping hazard. "I could have cut it, but these are the fishing grounds where I fish all the time. I want to know if there [are] any more out there."
He had notified Maritime New Zealand, the Ministry of Fisheries and the Otago Regional Council of his find. Regional council services group manager Jeff Donaldson said the council would remind all foreign vessel charters that rubbish disposal was a breach of the Otago Coastal Plan.
September/October 2011 Professional Skipper 41
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