VLADIMIR PUTIN EXPRESSES CONDOLENCES TO PORTUGUESE LEADERS IN CONNECTION WITH THIS MORNING'S TRAGEDY








LISBON, MARCH 5, 2001. /From RIA Novosti Correspondent Vitaly Mirny./ Sergei Shoigu, Minister of Emergency Situations of Russia, who is currently on a visit in Lisbon, has conveyed, on behalf of President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, their condolences to the leaders of Portugal on the tragedy that happened on Monday morning in the north of the country, which took the lives of 77 people.


	The tragedy  happened on Monday in the area of Entre-os-Rios in the North of Portugal, where a double-decker bus carrying tourists and two passenger cars dropped from the height of 50 m as the bridge they were driving on collapsed.


	Sergei Shoigu is currently in Lisbon taking part in the work of the mixed commission for economic, industrial and technical cooperation between Russia and Portugal, chairman of the Russian part of which he is.