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Court in Kazan to start hearing into ship Bulgaria disaster May 6

According to investigators, the actions of the accused compounded to cruise ship Bulgaria’s disaster, which led to 122 confirmed deaths
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

KAZAN, April 22 (Itar-Tass) - The Moskovsky court of Kazan opens on May 6 the hearing of the criminal case of the cruise ship Bulgaria disaster, the court’s press secretary Guzel Khafizova told Itar-Tass on Monday.

The ship sank in the Kuibyshev reservoir of the Kamsko-Ustyinsky district, Tatarstan, on July 10, 2011.

There are more than 200 claimants in the case that is covered in 90 volumes. There is a large number of witnesses, over 1,000, so the court meeting will take place in the Yunost culture club, the court’s press secretary said.

In the dock are assistant captain of the ship Ramil Khametov, the ship’s sub-lessee Svetlana Inyakina, expert of the Russian river vessel register Yakov Ivashov, officials of the Federal Service for Transportation Supervision Vladislav Semyonov and Irek Timergazeyev. In accordance with the part each played they are charged with crimes covered by Article 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - “services failing to prevent hazard to clients’ life and health”, Article 263 - “violation of safety rules in the use of internal water transport”, Article 143 - “violation of labor safety rules”, and Article 285 - “abuse of powers”.

According to investigators, the actions of the accused compounded to cruise ship Bulgaria’s disaster, which led to 122 confirmed deaths. Only 79 passengers and crew members survived the sinking.

The investigating committee believes the actual cause of the ship’s sinking was it being unfit for sailing for its technical state and spotty training of the crew. Navigation safety rules were neglected by the crew and there was slack control of their performance.