Interfax reported the Volganeft was carrying fuel oil from the Russian city of Samarrah on the Volga River to an oil terminal in Ukraine.

CNN: Death toll rises in oil disaster

But in fact there was already a tiny settlement here - a small village of ethnic Germans exiled from their homes on the Volga river by Stalin.

BBC: News - Today - Life in the oil-rich Siberian town of Strezhevoy

The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, or Emercom, published the full list of the 45 passengers on board a plane that exploded mid air and crashed in the Volga River on Wednesday afternoon in central Russia.

FORBES: Names Of Deceased KHL Hockey Players Released In Russia

There's no magic in the Yangtse River any more than the Volga, Rhine or Hudson.

FORBES

The jet then burst into flames, with some of the wreckage and bodies falling in the nearby River Tunoshna, a tributary of the Volga.

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Strel plans to swim across the Grand Canyon , along 1, 000 miles of the freezing Mackenzie River in Canada, and the length of the 2, 000-mile Volga .

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