Greater than half a dozen tourists have been killed after a bus fell into the world’s deepest lake.
Divers have recovered the bodies of seven Chinese residents and a bus driver after the tourist vehicle plunged after ice broke on a frozen section of Lake Baikal in Siberia.
Igor Kobzev, the governor of Irkutsk region, said that one tourist had managed to flee the wreckage.
The politician wrote on Telegram: ‘Divers recovered the bodies of the victims from the location where a automotive carrying tourists fell through the ice.
‘We now know for certain that they’re the driving force and 7 Chinese residents. I once more express my deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims.’
Mr Kobzev warned that the official ice road remained closed as a consequence of concerns over cracks in several sections.
He added that Lake Baikal was ‘unforgiving’ in poor conditions and lessons hadn’t been learnt regardless of several other incidents in the realm over the previous couple of days.
‘I’d wish to once more appeal to everyone planning a visit to Lake Baikal: Before you, against your higher judgment, determine to drive onto the ice, give it some thought. Is it really value it? Some have already made the fallacious selection. The lesson was fatal’, he said.
A girl and child were rescued by emergency services on Friday after a automotive became stuck within the lake five kilometres from dry land.
One other vehicle carrying 4 holidaymakers sank into the lake after driving over cracking ice.
Authorities confirmed that an investigation into the bus incident had been launched, with a criminal case open.
The world’s largest freshwater lake by volume, Lake Baikal is greater than 5,000ft deep in parts and covers an area larger than Belgium.
Situated in a rift valley near the Mongolian border, the large body of water can be one in every of the clearest lakes on the globe.
Its surface routinely freezes over for as much as five months a yr from January to June, with the ice reaching a thickness of as much as two metres.
The UNESCO World Heritage Site is currently under threat from pollution from nearby developments and the flow of toxic substances.
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