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                  Russia Probes Boating Deaths of 14 Children

   by Lou Lorscheider

   Russian authorities opened a criminal probe Sunday, hours after at
   least 14 children attending a summer camp in northwestern Russia died
   when their boats capsized in a storm-swept lake near the Finland
   border.

   A spokesman for Russia's chief investigative agency, Vladimir Markin,
   said the deaths occurred overnight into Sunday on Lake Syamozero, in
   the Republic of Karelia, 120 kilometers east of the border with
   Finland.

   Markin, speaking Sunday, said 47 children and four adult instructors
   were traveling in four boats when disaster struck.

   He also said four members of the camp staff had been detained for
   questioning, as well as two adults who are alleged to have organized
   the boating excursion.

   Karelia regional lawmaker Alexei Gavrilov told Rossiya 24 television
   that repeated bulletins had been issued for the area in recent days
   warning of an approaching Atlantic storm, along with advisories urging
   boaters to stay off the 270-square kilometer lake.

   Another official, children's rights advocate Pavel Astakhov, told the
   Ria Novosti news agency the children were "apparently not wearing life
   jackets." However, an earlier report by Interfax News
   Agency quoted a local official as saying all victims and survivors were
   wearing life jackets.

   Russia's federal tourism agency was quoted in that report as saying the
   victims ranged in age from 12 to 15 and included orphans and children
   from disadvantaged families.

   Most of the victims were from Moscow.  The capital's Mayor Sergey
   Sobyanin tweeted his condolences to the families and friends of those
   who lost their lives in the accident.

   Local experts said that lake can be extremely dangerous to navigate in
   strong winds, and even experienced local fisherman stayed off the water
   during the weekend.

   "It was suicidal" to allow the group to go boating in those conditions,
   a local tour company director remarked in a television interview.

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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/russia-probes-boating-death-of-14-chi
   ldren/3382943.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/russia-probes-boating-death-of-14-children/3382943.html