Tragedy Strikes: Eight Lives Lost, Including a Child, as Tourist Bus Falls Through Ice on the World's Deepest Lake

AT least eight people have died, including a child, after a tourist minibus plunged through ice into the world’s deepest lake.

The tour bus was travelling across Lake Baikal, in Russia, fell into a 10ft wide ice fissure and sank.

Rescuers at the scene of the tragedy where a tourist bus plunged into the worlds deepest lakeCredit: Reuters The bus sank after driving across the ice on the world’s deepest lake, Baikal, in SiberiaCredit: East2West

Only one survivor managed to scramble to safety before the minibus fully submerged and alerted authorities.

Expert divers were called in to recover the bodies.

The vehicle, carrying tourists from China, a local man and the bus driver, plunged to a depth of 60ft, trapping the occupants in the sub-Arctic water.

The governor of the Irkutsk region said “the consulate general of the PRC (People’s Republic of China) has been notified.”

The lake in Siberia has a maximum depth of 5,387 ft and contains 20 per cent of the globe’s unfrozen freshwater.

The Russian driver Nikolay Dorzheev, 44, is alleged to have used an ice road deemed unsafe to reach Cape Khoboy, a popular tourist spot.

He ran tours linked to shamanism and pagan culture.

While ice on Baikal is often 4ft thick, this part of the lake had been subject to cracking, making the use of vehicles here treacherous.

The Russian authorities have opened a criminal case into the tragedy.

Lake Baikal, the deepest in the world, is a major tourist destination in Siberia.

It is just north of Mongolia and popular with Chinese visitors.

In the winter, the vast body of water freezes, creating visually stunning crystal-like columns and a distinctive cracking noise from crashing waves trapped underneath the surface.

Officials set up specific ice roads over the frozen lake that are monitored by authorities and opened for certain types of vehicles depending on the conditions.

Driving elsewhere on the lake is officially prohibited.

Kobzev said the road had not been cleared for use and that a criminal case had been opened into the incident.

It follows an incident on January 28 when a minibus overturned after hitting a crack, killing a 75-year-old.

And then on February 9 a car plunged through the ice which resulted in two deaths, according to emergency services reports.

Crossing the lake is a popular route for tourists visiting Cape KhoboyCredit: East2West An earlier accident this winter on the world’s oldest lake, Baikal, when a tourist, 75, died after a minibus turned over on the iceCredit: East2West