Russia said there was little hope of finding any more people alive on Monday after an overloaded tourist boat sank in the Volga River,killing as many as 128 people in Russias worst river accident in three decades. The authorities called the sinking the worst river transport disaster in Russia in recent history and one of the most dismal losses of life among children in this country since terrorists seized a school in a southern region seven years ago. Tragically,minutes before the boat went down,the crew had separated many of the children on board from their parents,moving them into an interior play area,apparently part of the normal routine of the cruise. Survivors said that few of the children survived. Practically no children made it out, one survivor,Natalya Makarova,said on state television. There were many children on the boat,very many. She said her daughter slipped from her grasp as they tried to escape. The authorities now say as many as 208 people were on board when the boat sank on Sunday,including at least 59 children. In the chaotic hours,about 80 people were rescued from the water,most of them adults. President Dmitri A Medvedev said on Monday that the accident seemed to be the result of poor maintenance. The vessel was in poor condition, Medvedev told a meeting of senior ministers at his Gorki residence outside Moscow.
