At least 150 passengers were killed when their Romanian pleasure boat collided with a Bulgarian tugboat on the Danube River and sank, the Yugoslav state news agency reported Monday from Bucharest.
Romanian officials did not immediately confirm the Tanjug report, which gave no sources.The accident occurred Sunday near the port city of Galati, about 125 miles northeast of Bucharest. The Romanian ship sank "in conditions of poor visibility," the official Romanian Agerpres news agency reported Sunday.
Agrepres said 18 of the ship's 169 passengers were rescued. The Romanian report was unclear on whether the 13 crew members were among those saved.
Tanjug said the cruise ship sank so fast that only 18 people could be rescued. Tanjug also said the ship had only 10 crew members.
The reports did not give the nationalities of the passengers. A British newspaper reported that Western tourists were likely aboard the Romanian ship, the Mogosoaia, when it sank.
The Bulgarian state-run news agency BTA said the Mogosoaia collided with the Bulgarian tug Peter Karaminchev, which was hauling a convoy of loaded barges, then capsized and sank.
"After the alarm was sounded by the Bulgarian ship, its crew and the crew of the ships in the proximity ran to help," BTA said.
It said there were no reports of casualties aboard the tug.
There was no report on what caused the boats to collide, but Agerpres said the ship sank "in conditions of poor visibility."