On 11 July, the Russian ship “Bulgaria” claimed the lives of 122 people due to crew’s lack of qualification and negligence.
The conclusion has been drawn by the Federal Service for Transport Supervision of Russia (“Rostransnadzor”) that conducted the study. The official statement is that the water poured into the ship “Bulgaria” through the portholes of open passenger cabins.
The vessel set sail in strong winds, with gusts reaching up to 20 m/s. The dispatchers’ office had not been notified on the trip.
Before leaving, all portholes in passenger cabins should have been closed. This had not been done. After the tragedy, divers stated that the left boardside had 27 portholes open and on the left side there were 11. Open hatches have been found not only in passenger cabins, but also in the engine room.
Even before the ship set sail, there had been a 4-degree tilt noticed on the right boardside. When making a turn in strong winds, due to the hull’s large sailage “Bulgaria” heeled over to the right boardside even more.
The commission found that when the ship tilted by 9 degrees the water gushed in through the open hatches. At first, there were 50 tons of water pouring in per minute, then followed even 125 tons, which increased “Bulgaria”’s deflection to the right boardside even more. The enormous amount of water gushed in not only through the right side portholes, but also through the main deck hatches and doors. In 5-7 seconds, the deflection to the right boardside rose from 9 to 20 degrees. The vessel turned upside down on the right side and sank.
When being raised to the dock after the tragedy, “Bulgaria” was negligently or perhaps intentionally “dropped” on the right side from 2-3 meters height to “hide” the traces of the marine disaster. The commission stated that the ship’s right hull was damaged in four places. During the accident, main diesel engine-generator was not working either.
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