Captain of Astrakhan ship found guilty of non-rendering help to passengers of "Bulgariya"

The Kamskoe-Ustye District Court of Tatarstan has sentenced Yuri Tuchin, Captain of Astrakhan dry-cargo ship "Arbat", to a fine amounted to 130,000 roubles for failure to render assistance to people in distress in crash of the motor vessel "Bulgariya".

Let us remind you that on July 10, the double-deck diesel-electric motor vessel "Bulgariya", built in 1955 in Czechoslovakia, sank during a storm in the Kuibyshev reservoir in Tatarstan in three kilometres from the coast. According to the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF), 201 persons were on board of the vessel at time of the crash. 122 persons perished, 79 persons were rescued.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that after the tragedy, examinations of passenger ships were conducted in the regions of southern Russia. Violations of safety rules by captains and crews of river vessels were revealed.

The criminal case under Article 270 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (failure of vessel's captain to render assistance to people in distress) was initiated against Yuri Tuchin, Captain of the dry-cargo ship "Arbat", and Alexander Egorov, Captain of the towboat "Dunaisky-66", who were in the area of the crash of the vessel "Bulgariya" and, according to the ICRF, failed to render assistance to drowning people. The Article stipulates punishment of up to two years of imprisonment, the "RAPSI" (Russian Agency of Legal and Judicial Information) reports.

According to the materials of the case, the dry-cargo ship "Arbat" of the Astrakhan Company "Meridian" passed by the crash place, when survived passengers of the vessel "Bulgariya" kept afloat with the help of rescue rafts and shouted for help. However, no victims were taken on board of the dry-cargo ship.

To find out whether the actions of Captain Yuri Tuchin were justified, investigators ordered the navigation legal expertises. Experts agreed that Yuri Tuchin did not act in accordance with the rules: according to the Code of Inland Waterway Transport of Russia, when he noticed people in distress, he should have stopped, declared the alarm and taken all possible measures to rescue people, the "Kommersant" reports.

The trial on the case against Yuri Tuchin was twice postponed - on November 21, due to incomplete attendance of witnesses and victims, and on December 16 - due to sickness of the defendant. The case was considered in a special manner - without court investigation, questioning witnesses and victims, since the Captain of the dry-cargo ship "Arbat" admitted his guilt during the investigation.

Despite the confession of his guilt, the Astrakhan Captain believes that he acted rationally.

"We had no rescue equipment; and only a fool could approach people with a dry-cargo ship at wind, when the ship was uncontrollable. I could simply drown the people," the IA "Volga-Kaspiy" quotes Yuri Tuchin as saying.

Public prosecutors demanded to sentence Yuri Tuchin to 1 year and 2 months of conditional sentence with probation period of three years and deprive him of his right to hold positions related to steering of water transport vessels for three years. In their turn, defenders requested to limit punishment by a fine, the RIA "Novosti" reports.

Finally, the Court sentenced the Captain to a fine of 130,000 roubles. At the same time, the Court did not deprive Yuri Tuchin of his right to hold positions related to steering of water transport vessels for three years, as it was requested by the public prosecutors, the "Interfax" reports.