Nine People Die in Moscow River when Riverboat Collides with Barge

Early on Sunday, a riverboat sailing the Moscow River collided with a barge, leaving 9 people to drown and the second major maritime disaster to hit Russia in the past month.

The Lastochka was a party boat for a birthday celebration.  The boat was overcrowded and crashed into a docked barge on the Moscow River around 1am in southwest Moscow.  The small Lastochka was dragged underneath the barge in a roughly 200-yard-wide bend near Luzhniki Stadium, causing the boat to sink. 

Seven passengers survived the wreckage, six of them rescued by crew members of the barge, and one swimming to safety.  Nine others remained missing as divers searched the waters.  The bodies of the nine who were still missing were recovered and pronounced dead.  They are believed to have been Turkish citizens. 

Russian officials report that the owner and captain of the Lastochka, Gennagy Zinger, died in the accident and may have been to blame for the wreck, as he was scrutinized many times prior for violating safety regulations. The Lastochka was licensed for carrying 12 passengers, and at the time of the crash, it was carrying 16. 

This is a huge blow to Russia, as they just suffered the massive tragedy of the Bulgaria on the Volga River and President Dmitry Medvedev ordered for all passenger transport vessels in the country to be inspected. 

The incident has caused anger and distress to the Russian people over the dwindling state of the Russian river fleet.