MOSCOW, Feb 20 (Reuters) – Seven Chinese tourists and a bus driver are feared dead after a tourist bus driving across a frozen stretch of Lake Baikal in Russia’s Siberia plunged into the water when the ice broke beneath it, local governor, Igor Kobzev, said on Friday via his channel in Telegram.
One tourist managed to escape, and the search for the others continues, he said. The world’s deepest lake, located north of Mongolia, is a popular destination for tourists.
The Irkutsk region prosecutor’s office said that a criminal case had been opened and the circumstances were being investigated.
Chinese tourism in Russia has soared in the past years amid political rapprochement between the two neighbours and “no limits” strategic partnership declared last year, while mutual visa free travel regime has been introduced.
(Reporting by Reuters)
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