14 children die in Russia boat tragedy

(Vatican Radio) Four people have been detained after a doomed boating expedition took the lives of more than a dozen children in northern Russia this weekend. Some 37 people are said to have survived the tragedy, which happened despite warning of a storm.

Listen to the report by Stefan Bos:

Distraught parents began searching for answers as to why despite repeated warnings of an advancing Atlantic cyclone, organizers took their children with them in boats. Russian officials said several boats overturned Saturday on a lake in bad weather in Russia's northwestern region of Syamozero, 120 kilometers east of the border with Finland. 

Russia's main state investigative agency said that of 47 children and four adult instructors in the boats, at least 
14 children died. No life jackets were reportedly found among the dead.   

Survivors who managed to reach the coast in freezing waters cried for help, but by than it was too late for many of their friends, explained Alexei Smirnov, deputy head of Russia's National Crisis Management Centre. "A non-registered tourist group atop two boats and one raft came into a storm at Lake Syamozero in the Republic of Karelia...resulting in the capsizing of two boats with 26 people aboard including 24 children and two attendants." 

FEW SURVIVORS

Many of those who died were believed to be mostly children aged 12 to 15. 

Authorities say four people have been detained on suspicions of violating safety rules. 

Among them are two instructors as well as the director and deputy director of a hotel where they were staying 
and which reportedly organized the boating.

Yet the latest incident has raised questions about a respect of safety rules in Russia. 

Widespread corruption and general negligence are said to have contributed to several incidents in the country.