Russian cruise ship death toll could hit 129

The death toll in the cruise boat sinking on Russia'sVolga River could reach 129.

Russian Emergency Ministry officials said rescuers have found 79 survivors and 58 bodies,including those of five children.

Dozens remain missing a day after the sinking.

Emergency teams and divers continued to search for the rest of the passengers but hopes were dimming that any had survived.

The vessel, more than a half-century old, was carrying 208 sightseers when it went down Sunday about three kilometres offshore in a huge reservoir formed by the Volga near the major city of Kazan.

Officials say it was licensed to carry only 120, but it was not immediately clear if the apparent 75 per cent overload contributed to the accident. News reports say local investigators have determined that the boat was listing to starboard, possibly because of unemptied sewage tanks,and having engine trouble even when it started out on the excursion in stormy weather.

Dozens of children aboard

Many children were aboard the boat, and Russian news reports quote survivors as saying about 50 children had gathered in the entertainment hall shortly before the ship sank.

Survivors report the ship leaned to starboard as it made a turn and a wave washed over the deck, causing it to sink in just eight minutes.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is demanding a thorough investigation and has declared Tuesday a day of mourning.

"It happened very fast. Hatches and windows were knocked out," said Vladimir Shirybyryv, a friend of both survivors and missing people who was waiting at the river port in Kazan for word. Based on a surviving friend's account, he said: "Everyone who survived was covered with fuel oil."

One survivor told the national news channel Vesti 24 that other ships refused to come to their aid.

"Two ships did not stop, although we waved our hands," said the man in his 40s, who stood on the shore amid weeping passengers, some of them wrapped in towels and blankets. He held another man, who was weeping desperately.

The Transportation Ministry says Russia has 1,568 registered passenger vessels more than 100 are as old or older than 56-year-old Bulgaria.

Emergency teams and divers from neighbouring regions rushed to the site of the tragedy, 750 kilometres east of Moscow.

Ship built in 1955

The Volga, Europe's longest river, is up to 30 kilometres wide in places. The river is a popular tourist destination, especially in summer months.

The Bulgaria was built in 1955 in Czechoslovakia and belongs to a local tourism company. It was travelling from the town of Bulgar to the regional capital, Kazan.

A tourism expert said the lack of partitions inside the Bulgaria made it vulnerable to breaches.

"In case of an accident these ships sink within minutes," Dmitri Voropayev, head of the Samara Travel company, told RIA Novosti.

Russia's Tourism Industry Union said the ship had not been inspected or retrofitted for years, according to the Interfax news agency.

During a conversation with Russia's president about Libya on Monday, U.S. President Barack Obama also expressed his condolences for the lives lost when the cruise ship sank.