Little hope of finding any more Volga survivors

RUSSIA said there was little hope of finding any more people alive after an overloaded tourist boat sank in the Volga river, killing as many as 128 people in Russia’s worst river accident in three decades.

Eighty people were rescued on Sunday after the Bulgaria, a double-decked river cruiser built in 1955, sank 3km from shore in a broad stretch of the river in Tatarstan. Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu told President Dmitry Medvedev little hope remained of finding survivors.

As many as 60 of the passengers may have been children, Russian media reported, and survivors said some 30 children had gathered in a room near the stern of the ship to play just minutes before it sank.