Budapest: Seven South Korean tourists died and 21 others were missing after a sightseeing boat capsized and sank on the Danube in Budapest, Hungarian and South Korean officials said on Thursday. The accident happened near the parliament building in the heart of the Hungarian capital after a collision with a larger river cruise boat during torrential rain around 09:15 pm (1915 GMT) on Wednesday, according to officials.
A total of 33 South Koreans were on board, Seoul’s foreign ministry said, confirming the seven dead were Korean. The youngest was a six-year-old girl, travel agency officials said. The 26-metre tourist boat, called the “Mermaid,” was also carrying two Hungarian crew members.
“Our services have recorded the death of seven people,” Pal Gyorfi, a spokesman for Hungarian emergency services, said early Thursday morning. “Seven people have been taken to hospital in a stable condition with hypothermia and shock symptoms,” Gyorfi added. “A further 21 people are missing,” a Hungarian police spokesman Kristof Gal said. “Police are searching the river throughout the entire length of the Danube in Hungary south of where the incident took place,” he said.
Local media reported that one of the bodies was found several kilometres south of the collision location, although Gal declined to confirm. The temperature of the river water is between 10 and 15 degrees, according to local media.
The search for the missing with the help of divers and police shining lights continued through the night, said an AFP photographer at the scene. A film crew working from a bridge south of the accident site also used reflector lights to help light up the water through the gloom and pouring rain, reported local media.