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Moscow, Karelia mourn over youngsters drowned during boat trip in Karelia

A day of mourning declared over the tragedy, which claimed lives of 13 children

PETROZAVODSK, June 20. /TASS/. A day of mourning over youngsters who died in an accident in Russia’s northwestern republic of Karelia this weekend is being observed in Moscow and in Karelia on Monday.

The tragedy occurred on June 18 when forty-seven children vacationing at the Park Hotel Syamozero children’s camp accompanied by four instructors aged from 17 to 19 ran into a gale while rafting on three boats in Lake Syamozero in Karelia. The boats overturned and sank. Thirteen children drowned, one more is still missing.

The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has issued a permission for players of the Russian national football team to wear mourning stripes at tonight’s 2016 Euro Cup group stage match against team Wales in Toulouse.

Thirty-three survivors were taken to Moscow on Monday by a Russian emergencies ministry’s place. After a medical check, five were taken to hospitals.

Twelve out of the 13 victims of the tragedy have been identified. Their families will be paid a compensation of one million rubles (15,600 U.S. dollars) by resolutions of Karelia’s head Alexander Khudilainen and Moscow’s Mayor Sergei Sovyanin.

One of the dead children was parentless.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets said the Park Hotel Syamozero camp has been suspended. "All children in that camp - and there are guests from Moscow, the Moscow Region, St. Petersburg and Karelia - are leaving it in an organized way," she said.

The children will be accommodates at other children’s camps, said Karelia’s Deputy Prime Minister Valentina Ulich.

Golodets issued instructions to regional authorities to immediately check all children’s camps to make sure they provide normal conditions for children’s rest and leisure and we are secure against such tragedies.

In the meantime, Russia’s Investigations Committee opened a criminal case on charges of rendering services that don’t meet security requirements. Five suspects have been detained, including director of Park Hotel Syamozero Yelena Reshetova, her deputy Vadim Vinogradov and three instructors. Investigation is under personal control of Committee’s chairman Alexander Bastrykin.