Vehicle with Chinese tourists breaks through Baikal ice, multiple feared dead

A vehicle carrying Chinese tourists plunged through the ice on Lake Baikal and sank, according to the Investigative Committee for Russia’s Irkutsk Region, which confirmed the incident to Russian media.

The group consisted of eight tourists. One person was rescued, while the remaining tourists and the driver are believed to have died, Irkutsk Region Governor Igor Kobzev said in a statement published on his Telegram channel, citing preliminary information.

Investigators reported that the accident occurred during the daytime on February 20 near Cape Khoboy, when a UAZ vehicle transporting nine people broke through the ice. “According to preliminary data, there are fatalities as a result of the incident,” the investigative authorities said.

Law enforcement agencies have opened two criminal cases — one concerning the provision of services that did not meet safety requirements and resulted in the deaths of two or more people, and another on charges of negligence.

An investigative and operational team, along with police officers and emergency responders, is currently working at the scene. Witnesses to the incident are being questioned, while the regional prosecutor’s office has launched its own inspection and is supervising the criminal proceedings. Authorities are continuing efforts to clarify the exact whereabouts of the driver and the tourists.

The tragedy follows a similar incident on January 28 near Olkhon Island on Lake Baikal, when another vehicle carrying tourists overturned after driving into a crack in the ice. A woman was killed in that accident, while the other passengers escaped without injuries. Police and investigators are continuing to establish all the circumstances surrounding that earlier crash.

By Tamilla Hasanova