101 missing after Russian boat sinks

MOSCOW -- A half-century-old tourist boat with 188 people on board listed and sank quickly in one of the world's largest reservoirs amid wind and rain yesterday, authorities and survivors said, and dozens of children were believed to be among the 61 people missing. Two bodies were recovered.

About 30 children gathered in a cockpit in the double-decker Bulgaria moments before it sank into the reservoir on the Volga River, a survivor told the Interfax news agency. Russia's Vesti 24 television quoted another survivor as saying that the boat "tilted to the right and sank within minutes." Crew members had time to open only two lifeboats, and could release only one from the ship, survivors told the Itar Tass news agency.

By early today, only two bodies had been recovered from the 66-foot-deep waters of the giant Kuibyshev reservoir, 2 miles from shore.

The regional emergency ministry of Tatarstan said two men managed to swim to shore, while a passing riverboat picked up another 83 people and the lifeless body of a woman. The body of another woman was found later, authorities said.

One survivor told Vesti 24 that other ships refused to come to their aid.

"Two ships did not stop, although we waved our hands," said the man in his 40s, who stood on the riverboat amid weeping passengers.

Emergency teams and divers from neighboring regions rushed to the site, 450 miles east of Moscow.

The Volga, Europe's longest river, is up to 19 miles wide. The river is a popular tourist destination, especially in summer months. Most of Russia's largest cities are located in the Volga River basin.