The Russian ‘Bulgaria’ was not a river cruise

On 10th July many of you have probably read about the sinking of the Russian ‘River Cruise ship’ which sunk on the Volga River with 114 people losing their lives.

This particular vessel was not a cruise ship or even a river cruise!

The vessel was a small boat and could only hold 100 passengers.  When she sunk she had as many as 205 soles on board.  The ship was a sight seeing boat which was chartered to a non travel company who did not know how to operate it safely.

The boat had lost one of its two engines during the cruise, causing it to list to one side. In a 10 mile wide stretch of the Volga a windstorm whipped up waves that were tall enough to breach the low leaning side making the vessel list even worse.  Within three minutes the boat flipped to the side, quickly filled with water and sank to the bottom.

It is important to draw a distinction between a boat like the Bulgaria and the professional U.S. and European based river cruise operators like Viking River cruises, Uniworld and AMA Waterways who have been around for decades with exemplary safety records.