Public Commission set to probe into the Bulgaria passenger boat sinking has established that the accident was primarily caused by non-compliance with prescribed requirements for safe navigation by the shipowner, the captain, as well as the lack of discipline among the crew, the committee said.
The committee conducted a survey of the sunken vessel, examined Russian legal regulation of inland waterway transport, the current system of the industry management, the work of river ports, as well as the services provided by the state and private entities. The committee experts were familiar with the official resolution of the Federal Service for Supervision of Transport and other documents.
The survey results enabled the experts to establish that the crew also failed to fulfill the requirements, regulatory standards of safety of navigation, to comply with generally accepted techniques and methods of navigating the vessel during unfavorable weather conditions.
"The crew did not take all the necessary steps to prepare the ship for the trip in accordance with the weather forecast in the Kuibyshev water basin,” the committee said.