MOSCOW - The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry confirmed Tuesday that at least 83 were killed in Sunday's ship sinking in the Volga River.

A ministry spokesman said that as of 16:00 Moscow time (1200 GMT), a total of 83 dead bodies, including 16 children, 51 women and 16 men, have been lifted from the sunken cruise ship "Bulgaria," which was heavily overloaded with some 200 passengers than its capacity limit of 120.

The spokesman said rescuers and divers continued searching in the wreckage and began recovering bodies of dozens of children from a playroom in the boat's lower deck.

Up to 50 children may have been trapped in the room when the double-decker went down, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

"The bodies of five children have been salvaged from the room so far," a spokesman of the local emergency rescue team told reporters.

Spokesman for the Volga regions emergencies center Igor Panshin has pledged rescue operations will go on until all the missing are recovered.

According to Panshin, divers are clearing the debris inside the ship while the visibility range is under 50 meters.

He said the dead bodies of the ship's captain and his wife were found in the deck, both with no life jackets.

According to the Russian Transport Ministry, the 56-year-old ship was not allowed to transport passengers and the shipowner did not acquire a license for the voyage.