Ship collision – Viking Sigyn captain taken into custody

A Budapest court has ordered the Ukrainian captain of a cruise ship which collided with a sightseeing boat in central Budapest in May to be held in custody, the municipal chief prosecutor told MTI on Monday. So far, the suspect has been under house arrest.

The prosecutor’s office on Nov. 28 pressed charges against the captain of criminal misconduct leading to mass casualties and 35 counts of failing to provide assistance after the collision.

The court ordered the defendant’s arrest due to “a possibility of fleeing among other reasons”.

On May 29, the Viking Sigyn cruise ship collided with the Hableány sightseeing boat with 33 South Korean tourists on board and a crew of two Hungarians.

Seven tourists were rescued from the water after the collision and the rest died. The body of one of the accident’s 28 victims has still not been recovered.

According to the indictment, the cruise ship’s captain was inattentive losing focus on steering the ship for several minutes.

He further failed to keep a safe distance and signal intention to overtake the sightseeing boat. The captain also failed to meet the obligation of providing assistance after the collision, according to the document.

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Source: mti