After seven hours of desperate efforts, teams from several authorities prevented the sinking of Táltos, a Hungarian Danube boat in Budapest. The incident was caused by extreme draught and the River Danube’s exceptionally low water level.
Desperate efforts to save Danube boat
According to Tények, TV2’s news programme, Táltos, one of the passenger boats regularly operating on the River Danube despite the extreme low water levels, almost sank near Budapest’s Elizabeth Bridge. As soon as the crew learned how serious the problem was from the Danube River Police Department, they began evacuating all passengers, which they completed swiftly and successfully.
Members of several authorities then arrived at the scene on Thursday evening to help keep the vessel afloat. At times, many feared the boat was beyond saving.
Officers from the Danube River Police Department, the Municipal Directorate for Disaster Management, and the Pest County Search and Rescue Service worked for more than seven hours to secure the boat.
Danube sightseeing cruises and family-themed boat trips launch for the season in Hungary!
No injuries
According to László Balázs, head of the Pest County Search and Rescue Service, the boat’s hull suffered multiple severe damages. The biggest hole in the hull was initially inaccessible, leaving the inflow of water seemingly unstoppable. Eventually, divers were able to repair it too.
Mr Balázs said the boat probably ran aground because of the River Danube’s extremely low water level and sustained further damage from rocks in the Danube bend.
Thankfully, no members of the crew or passengers were injured, and the rescue effort ended successfully.
New memorial site for deadly Hungarian boat tragedy
In 2019 a collision around Margithid between two boats caused a disaster that claimed 28 lives with the smaller boat sinking in seven seconds. I have been boating for many years in Canada and everyone knows that boating at night is exponentially more dangerous. Still there is the romance of sunset cruises. Ok. This is not a still lake you are operating on but a river with currents. You are in a relatively confined area with multiple vessels going in opposite directions. If anything happens and you are in the water you are pulled by a current and no one can see you because it is at night. Now the river level is the lowest in decades and underwater obstacles that were not there before are now a problem much closer to the surface. You have a large number of people on board including the elderly, children and perhaps even disabled people. If something happens these people are not going to be able to swim in currents at night to safety. Good luck.
We were on that boat when it hit the object (rock?). It immediately started taking on water into the starboard side. We docked within 15 minutes and all passengers disembarked with help getting onto the dock. Thank you to the crew for their response!