Operation to lift sunken Bulgaria ship to start on Sunday

MOSCOW, July 17 (Itar-Tass) -- An operation to lift the sunken
Bulgaria cruise ship from under water may begin on Sunday, Deputy
Transport Minister Viktor Olersky told Itar-Tass.
"If all is normal, the work on raising the ship to the surface will
begin tomorrow," the deputy minister said on Saturday. However, he refused
to say when exactly the operation is to begin.
Earlier, it was planned to start the operation on July 18. The press
service of president of Russia's republic of Tatarstan reported that
preparations for raising the Bulgaria passenger ship to the surface were
proceeding ahead of schedule.
Crane boats, which will raise the ship to the surface, have arrived at
the site on Saturday morning although they have been waited for at night
(from July 16 to July 17), the press service said.
"Both crane boats have been installed at the scene and sealed using
anchors. All ropes have been delivered on their board," Olersky said.
According to Deputy Emergencies Minister Alexander Chupriyan, divers
are through with sealing the sunken Bulgaria passenger ship. Now
specialists are preparing the ship for straightening on the bottom, he
noted.
"After the ship is straightened divers will examine the place where it
was resting to see if there were any dead bodies," Chupriyan said.
-0-ras