Deaths rise to 86 in Russia ship sinking

Moscow (CNN) -- Criminal cases have been opened against several people in connection with the sinking of a Russian ship Sunday in which scores of people died, federal investigators say.

Both Svetlana Inyakina, general director of Argorechtur, the company that rented the cruise boat "Bulgaria," and Yakov Ivashov, a manager at the Kama River Register, have been detained, Russia's Investigative Committee said.

Criminal charges are also being brought against the captains of two ships which are accused of passing the sinking boat without stopping to help the people in the water, the committee said.

At least 116 people died in the accident, the committee said on its website. The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry reported that so far it had recovered 88 bodies.

Earlier Tuesday, divers working on the ship broke through to an inner room where a children's karaoke concert was taking place when the boat capsized, emergency officials said.

Officials believe dozens of children were trapped in the recreation room Sunday when the "Bulgaria" sank on the Volga river in the Russian republic of Tatarstan with more than 200 people on board.

There are 175 scuba divers working on the scene, the ministry said.

Russia is observing a day of mourning Tuesday with church services taking place all across the country, flags flying at half-staff and national television canceling all entertainment programming in the wake of what Russian media are calling the most devastating river accident in the country's history.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the federal government would pay 1 million rubles ($35,500) to the families of each of the dead. He also promised 400,000 rubles ($14,250) to those who suffered major and moderately severe injuries, and half that sum to people with minor injuries.

Among the bodies to have been recovered are those of the ship's captain Alexander Ostrovsky and his wife, local officials in Tatarstan told Russian media at the site of the accident.

Russian Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu said the lifting of the boat will start late afternoon Saturday.

Dozens of people are still unaccounted for, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported.

At least 79 people have been rescued, some of whom have been released from hospitals after receiving medical treatment, according to government agencies.

The ship did not have a license to transport passengers, was overloaded, and was last repaired more than 30 years ago, the Russian Prosecutor's Office said Monday.

Prosecutors also established that the left engine of the ship was damaged, they said on their website.

Russian state TV reported the vessel had an operational limit of about 150 passengers, citing a top government official on site. State TV also reported, citing law enforcement officials, that there were life vests on board for only 156 people.

Emergency Situations Minister Shoigu earlier said there were 208 people aboard the ship, of whom 25 passengers were not officially registered and didn't have tickets. RIA Novosti reported Tuesday that 205 people were on board.

The president appointed Transport Minister Igor Levitin to head a special government commission to investigate the case.

Levitin said the captains of the two boats which passed by shortly after the accident but didn't stop to help the sinking "Bulgaria" would be held responsible.

A number of survivors told Russian media that they had spent nearly two hours afloat in cold water before they were collected by other ships, and that two boats had gone past beforehand without paying attention to their pleas for help.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said it's evident from the information gathered so far "that the vessel was not in the appropriate condition."

"We have to establish why the owner of the ship operated a ship that was in such a poor technical condition," Medvedev said. "It is clear that such an accident couldn't have taken place if safety rules were followed, even despite the difficult weather situation."

He also called for "a total inspection of all public carriers in Russia," adding that it is "obvious that this ship was not the only one with issues.

"The number of old tubs that are now in use (in Russia) is just staggering," the president said.

He instructed the Prosecutor General's Office to investigate everyone involved in the Bulgaria cruise, including "ship-owners, those who issued the navigation permit and those who were involved in organizing that boat tour, especially given the large number of children aboard."

Authorities have not ruled out the possibility that some passengers could have survived by swimming to the bank or one of the islands in the Volga.

Survivors told Russian state TV that there were many children on board the ship.

The ferry was built in 1955 in what used to be Czechoslovakia, according to Russian law enforcement officials.

RIA Novosti said the double-deck cruise ship went down near the village of Syukeyevo in Tatarstan, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of the city of Kazan. Kazan is about 724 kilometers (450 miles) east of Moscow.

CNN's Arkady Irshenko contributed to this report.