MOSCOW — At least 13 children and their adult instructor have died in a storm while boating on a lake in Russia’s northwestern region of Karelia, officials said on Sunday (June 19).

Mr Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for the nation’s main state investigative agency, said several boats with children overturned Saturday in a storm in Syamozero, 120km east of the border with Finland.

Of 47 children and four adult instructors in the boats, 13 children and one adult have died, Mr Markin said.

Mr Markin said three people have been detained on suspicions of violating safety rules: Two instructors and a deputy director of a hotel where they were staying which reportedly organised the boating.

The children who went out boating came from Moscow and the capital’s mayor, Mr Sergei Sobyanin, offered condolences to the victims’ families.

Repeated warnings of an advancing Atlantic cyclone had been issued days ahead of the storm, advising everyone against boating on the lake, one of the favourite holiday destinations in the area, regional Karelia lawmaker Alexei Gavrilov said on Rossiya 24 television.

“They didn’t have the right to go out boating,” he said.

Mr Vladimir Kucherenko, the director of a local tourist company, said that most children had apparently died from long exposure to cold water, as water temperatures in the lake were 8-10 degrees Celsius. He said strong winds might have driven boats across the lake, making it hard for the children to get to the shore.

“I would like to look the person who allowed them to go boating in the eye,” Mr Kucherenko said in televised remarks. “It was suicidal.”

Local experts said that the shallow lake could be extremely dangerous to navigate in strong winds, and even experienced local fishermen stayed away from the lake over the weekend. AP