Moscow: Nearly one hundred people remained missing after a tourist boat sank in a broad stretch of Russia`s Volga river on Sunday, killing at least one person, emergency services officials said.
One body was recovered and 84 people were rescued by a passing craft after a two-deck river cruiser, believed to have been carrying 182 people, sank in the Tatarstan region, Emergency Situations Ministry spokeswoman Irina Andrianova said.
Two of those saved were hospitalized and a rescue team and a helicopter searched for survivors, she said.
The boat was heading to the regional capital, Kazan, some 830 km (515 miles) east of Moscow, when it sank about 3 km (1.85 miles) from shore in 20 meters of water, the ministry`s regional branch said.
The cause was unclear, Andrianova said. She said there were 125 passengers, 22 crew and 35 other staff aboard the Bulgaria.
Accounts from officials of the number of people on board and the number missing changed many times in the hours after it sank at about 2 pm (6 a.m. EDT).
A regional Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman at one point said 167 had been rescued, but later said he had been mistaken and that only 84 were safe.
Cruises on the Volga, which cuts through the heart of Russia and drains into the Caspian Sea, are popular among Russians as well as foreigners.
It was unclear whether the Bulgaria, which state TV said has dozens of cabins and two restaurants, was on one-day outing or a longer cruise.
Bureau Report
