At least eight people died and one person was missing on Sunday after a riverboat collided with a barge and sank in the Moscow River, a spokeswoman for Russia's Emergencies Ministry said, according to Reuters. The private boat carrying 16 people sank after colliding with the river barge at around 1 a.m. (2100 GMT). Russian media quoted passengers as saying the boat had been rented for a birthday celebration. "An eighth body has been discovered. One more passenger is still missing," Interfax reported, quoting Emergencies Ministry spokeswoman Yelena Smirnykh. The captain of the barge helped save some of the seven passengers who survived, including one man who swam to shore. Survivors wrapped in brown blankets huddled on the river's grassy bank watching Emergencies Ministry boats and divers searching the sunken craft before work began to raise it to the surface of the river.
