Reuters/Kazan, Russia


Relatives of Faina Valiulina, a victim of the Bulgaria cruise boat sinking, arrive for the funeral ceremony outside Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan
Divers searching a tourist boat that sank on Sunday in Russia’s Volga river discovered the bodies of some 50 people, many of them children, an Emergencies Ministry official said yesterday.
The news will deepen anguish over a disaster that tore families apart, killing up to 129 people and underscoring concerns about the negligence, corner-cutting and corruption that troubles Russia.
The official death toll rose to 83, including 16 children.
President Dmitry Medvedev, who may seek re-election next March, vowed harsh punishment for violators of transport safety rules and said tougher legislation was needed.
The Bulgaria, an ageing, overcrowded riverboat on a weekend Volga cruise, sank in minutes 3km from shore after listing onto its right side in a thunderstorm. Authorities said 79 of the 208 people on board were rescued.
 One of the survivors said the boat, built in 1955, swiftly turned into a “metal coffin” after it got into difficulty.
Emergencies Ministry spokeswoman Yelena Smirnykh said divers working their way through the wreck saw the bodies when they reached a recreation area, where survivors had said some 30 children gathered shortly before the boat went down.
“By their visual estimates, the bodies of about 50 people are there. Most of them are children,” Smirnykh said. She said psychologists sent to counsel grieving relatives had also been helping some of the divers.
Emergency officials said the boat was meant for up to 140 people but was carrying 208, including 25 unregistered passengers. Most survivors were picked up by a passing riverboat after two commercial vessels passed without aiding them.
Prosecutors said the boat lacked a licence to carry passengers and had a problem with its left engine when it set out for Kazan, capital of the Tatarstan region, after taking  passengers to a town downriver on Saturday.
President Dmitry Medvedev declared a day of mourning, with flags flying at half mast and entertainment programmes and advertising restricted on television.Some of the victims’ relatives were taken out on a boat and lowered wreaths into the river.
The deadliest river disaster since 1983 was at once horrifying and unsurprising for many Russians, inured to deadly accidents from air crashes to nursing-home fires.
Many disasters are blamed on negligence and corruption that pervade Russia despite tough talk from Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who vowed early in his 2000-2008 presidency to bring order with a “dictatorship of law”.
Medvedev said on Monday there were too many “old rust tubs” still operating and yesterday he told lawmakers the disaster “revealed significant violations of transportation security.”
“It’s completely obvious that we cannot tolerate this any more,” Medvedev said, adding legislation had to be improved.
But it may be difficult for Russia’s leaders to shift the blame away from the state before parliamentary elections in December and a presidential poll next March.
“’The old tub’ is our entire state. Poorly controlled, despite the notorious power vertical. It’s thoroughly rotten, and therefore allows for operation of these leaky washtubs,”  Vladimir Varfolomeyev, deputy editor at radio station Ekho Moskvy, said on his blog.
The Federal Investigative Committee said it had confiscated documents from the company that owned the boat. Spokesman Vladimir Markin said investigators were looking into why the boat was listing to the right when it left port.
Medvedev has said he will decide soon whether to seek a new term in next March’s election. Putin has said he may seek a return to the presidency himself, but the two have indicated they will not face off against each other.
The Investigative Committee said that the head of the AgroRechTur tour operator and a local safety watchdog chief have been detained and face prison terms of up to 10 years.
Russia’s search for survivors turned into a gruesome recovery operation in which dazed divers used life vests to bring up bloated bodies from a depth of about 20m.
Divers reported their worst fears coming true overnight when they finally reached a cargo hold that was used as a music room and play lot for children as young as five years old.
Survivors said dozens of children were ushered into the room as heavy rain pelted the deck only moments before the boat’s still-unexplained accident.
“The divers inspected the craft and found 30 to 40 children in the cargo hold,” a member of the rescue operation told the Interfax news agency.
Passenger lists show there had been 30 children aged 14 and younger on board, although some survivors’ accounts suggest higher figures as many boarded without official tickets.
“We have raised five children’s bodies from the music room,” a recovery operation official told the RIA Novosti news agency shortly after divers managed to enter the cargo hold.