THOUSANDS PERISH.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 996, 10 December 1910, Page 5

THOUSANDS PERISH.

J ; ' TERRIBLE DISASTER IN RUSSIA FISHERMEN CARRIED TO SEA IN VOLGA FLOOD. MANY CRUSHED IN ICE FLOES. By Tokeraph-Press AEsociation-Oopyrisht. (Rec. December 9, 9.30 p.m.) St. Petersburg, December 9. Terrible details are- to hand of tho daniago done by-the recent gale at Astrakhan.' Many- barges with the tugs towing them were driven down tho Volga towards the sea. They dashed into each other and tho ice-floes on tho river; and soon became mero wrecks, to which the fishermen clung until overcomo by cold. Two ice-brcakeis with three steamers, tho crews of which showed splendid courage, worked .in tho darkness and rescued a thousand persons. The steamers continued the battle amidst masses of ico in'tho estuary of the Volga until access to the imprisoned barges was impossible. One-tliird of the fishermen perished, and tho fishing industry lias been ruined, the depotSj boats, and nets being destroyed. A thousand horses and cattle perished in tho floods, and hundreds of dwellings were swept away, their occupants being rescued from roofs and tree-tops. Astrakhan , is a government of S.E. Russia, on the lower course of the Volga River. The fishing industry at the mouth of the Volga gives occupation to. nearly 30,000 persons, as much as 278,000,000 herrings being caught in a good year. The port of Astrakhan, a place of between 80,000 and 100,000 inhabitants, is of considerable importance in the Transcaspian trade. Tho Volga, is by far the largest river in Europe, draining, an area greater than that of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom put together. The trade on'the river is enormous, 55 per cent, of all tho steamers plying in European Hussia belonsing to.the Volga basin. . . The river occasionally rises by as much -as 50 feet when in flood, and covers its low-lying banks for a distance of 5 to 15 miles. The level of the Caspian itself is. even considerably affected by a flood in tho Volga. All along its course the river,wastes its banks with considerable rapidity, towns and villages constantly having to be shifted further back. In tho delta the Volga subdivides, and finally enters tho Caspian by as many as 200 separate mouths. The width of the main branch in its lower course varies from 520 to 3500 yards, and the depth exceeds 80 feet.