Tourist boat capsized in Budapest

Ship collision – was it really foreseeable?

A man working in the Danube tourist boat industry said that because of the many vessels running simultaneously on the stream, such a catastrophe was predictable.

LATEST INFO: Wrap-up of today – One survivor of Danube collision still in the hospital, others released

Too many boats after sunset

As we reported before, a Hungarian riverboat called Hableány (Mermaid) used for tourism capsised in Budapest on Wednesday evening (10 PM) with 34 people on board, including South Korean passengers and Hungarian crew. The boat was hit by another, much bigger tourist vessel. Latest photos are HERE while you can watch the videos on the collision below:

Of course, there are many questions as to how such a tragedy could happen, and it will take at least days until authorities can say anything regarding the issue. But a boatswain working on a riverboat told Index that

it was only a matter of time until such a tragedy was expected to happen.

András Kurbély said that he has been working on a boat for 27 years and now he is boatswain on the deck of a 135-metre-long floatel like the one collided with the Hableány. According to him, such ships are used for longer evening sightseeing tours organised mostly in Budapest because only there are enough places to see on both banks of the river.

Kurbély said that his company started to organise evening boat tours first in Budapest, but they were followed shortly by other companies. As a result, today, many small and large ships are running simultaneously on the Danube even after sunset. According to him, he and his colleagues

talked a lot about the dangers of this situation.

Authorities were warned

He added that staff working on smaller ships do not have enough routine, which almost resulted in tragedies even before. For example, smaller ships running behind larger ones are not easy to detect; sometimes, they are not even able to communicate, and therefore, they do not react properly if the larger ships do manoeuvres.

Furthermore, it sometimes happens that captains of

small boats cannot read the navigation signals properly,

which could have resulted in accidents even before.

In fact, Mr Kurbély spoke about one of his acquaintances who wrote a letter for the authorities before, asking evening boat trips to be banned because they are very dangerous. Of course, he supported his request with professional arguments, but nothing happened.

According to Kurbély, Hungarian authorities should have banned evening boat trips long before, so, they are responsible for the tragedy that happened on Wednesday.

In truth, to reduce possible risks,

the shipping authority of Budapest already took some measures before.

For example, it has forbidden large ships to turn during evening tours. Furthermore, there are boatswains working on large vessels to check the sides before doing any manoeuvres because there are so many different boats for which the radar is not enough.

Mr Kurbély said that this accident should not have happened because even though the current is fast, there are no waves on the Danube.

Regarding the collision, so far, the bodies of seven victims have been recovered, and authorities know about only seven survivors. The passengers of the Hableány were South Korean citizens; therefore, the Korean foreign minister is going to travel to Budapest. PM Viktor Orbán and President János Áder have already expressed their condolences because of the catastrophe.

May 31, 2019

Wrap-up of today – One survivor of Danube collision still in hospital, others released

Only one of the survivors of the Danube ship collision was still in hospital, receiving treatment for a broken rib, on Thursday afternoon, public television news channel M1 reported. The other six people rescued have been released.

*Daily News Hungary was approached by the South Korean KBS World Radio, and one of our editors gave a quick interview, which you can listen to by clicking on this link (2019-05-30).*

A sightseeing boat carrying 33 South Korean tourists capsized and sank in the River Danube after colliding with a Swiss cruise ship. The bodies of seven victims have been found while a search is under way for the people missing, including the crew of two Hungarians.

The Ukrainain captain, C. Yuriy, of the hotel boat which collided with Hableány has been interrogated and arrested by the police.

According to bbc.com, the 64-year-old Ukrainian national is held as a suspect over reckless misconduct in waterborne traffic leading to mass casualties.

Human Resources Minister Miklós Kásler visited survivors of Wednesday’s ship collision in Budapest’s Uzsoki hospital on Thursday morning. Kasler said the seven South Korean nationals had been rushed to hospital and treated in the Uzsoki, Honvád and Szent Imre hospitals soon after the disaster on Wednesday evening.

A special emergency rescue boat was put in use for the first time before its official launch, the national water rescue service said.

The use of the boat was required because of the flooding of the Danube and poor weather, the statement added. Its build and special equipment make it suitable for searching for survivors and it played an important role on Thursday to check whether the body of the ship on the river bed had moved in the meantime, the statement said.

For that matter, Austria sent ten divers of its special Cobra unit to Budapest to help Hungarian divers in the Danube collision rescue, the Austrian interior ministry said.

The rescue experts will participate in searching for South Korean passengers still missing after the collision, the statement added.

“I express my sincere condolences to the families of passengers who fell victim to the disaster,” Interior Minister Eckart Ratz said.

“In the case of such tragic incidents, it is important that we make available operational forces and modern technology to our neighbours,” he added.

Austrian news agency APA said the divers had been sent at the request of Hungary’s disaster management centre.

South Korea had earlier announced that it would send a 13-member rescue team to Budapest.

May 30, 2019

Ship collision – Foreign minister pledges full cooperation with South Korea

Hungary shares the Republic of Korea’s grief and will fully cooperate to uncover the circumstances of the boat collision on the River Danube that claimed seven lives on Wednesday evening, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó said in a statement on Thursday.

Szijjártó said he was “shocked” to learn of the disaster in which a sightseeing boat carrying 33 South Korean tourists and two Hungarian crew members capsized and sank near the Parliament building.

“Our heart goes out to the grieving family members, and we wish the rescuers strength and endurance in carrying out their duties,” he said. The authorities are doing everything possible to recover any survivors and to reveal the cause of the accident, as well as determining any possible responsibility, he said.

Kang Kyung-wha, South Korea’s foreign minister, will meet Szijjártó at the site of the collision on Friday.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in called Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán by phone and asked him to ensure that Hungarian authorites do their utmost to find the South Koreans reported missing in Wednesday’s ship collision on the river Danube in central Budapest, South Korea’s presidential office reported.

In his call, the president thanked the Hungarian authorities for their rescue efforts.

Earlier on Thursday, the president ordered an operative team to be set up in connection with the accident, in which at least 7 South Koreans died, and 21 were reported missing. The 18-strong team, headed by the South Korean foreign minister, is scheduled to arrive in Budapest on Thursday, accompanied by a 13-strong rescue team of mostly divers.

Hableány, the Hungarian sight-seeing boat that sank in the river Danube after the collision, was carrying 35 people including a crew of two. Most passengers were in their 40s, but there was also a six-year-old child and a man in his 70s, a South Korean ministry official reported.

Meanwhile, the Hungarian interior minister has received South Korea’s ambassador to Hungary in his office. Sándor Pintér has expressed his condolences to Choe Kyoo-Sik and briefed him on circumstances of the accident and steps taken in the rescue operations.

May 30, 2019

Ship collision – Police launch criminal investigation – NEW VIDEOS

The national police (ORFK) have launched a criminal investigation into Wednesday’s ship collision in central Budapest, in which at least seven people died, Colonel Adrián Pál told a press conference on Thursday.

The bodies of seven victims have been recovered, while a search is under way for 21 others, he said.

The accident happened at 9.05pm on Wednesday, when Hungarian sightseeing boat Hableany (Mermaid) collided with Viking Sigyn, a large cruiser belonging to a Swiss company, the colonel said. He added that the cruiser’s Ukrainian captain has been questioned.

ORFK has called on eye witnesses to contact the police.

Panorama Deck, the company operating Hableany, said in a statement that the boat had had 60 safety vests on board, adding that the vessel’s captain and the other crew had done an excellent job all through their employment with the company.

The statement said the company was shaken by the disaster and expressed their sympathy with the families affected. The company said it was ready to cooperate with the authorities in their investigation and also set up an internal committee to look into details of the accident.

With regard to the accident and high water levels on the Danube, the national water management authority ordered a 24-hour surveillance service along the river between Budapest and Hungary’s southern border.

May 30, 2019

Ship collision – PM Orbán, President Áder express condolences

President János Áder and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán have expressed condolences to their South Korean counterparts over Wednesday’s ship collision on the river Danube in central Budapest.

At least seven people died and another seven were injured when a sightseeing boat carrying 33 South Koreans sank after colliding with a larger cruise ship.

In his telegram to President Moon Jae-in, Áder said Hungarian authorities will make all possible efforts to find the survivors and to ensure the speediest possible recovery of those hospitalised, the president’s office told MTI.

Hungarian authorities will conduct a thorough investigation and stand ready to cooperate with South Korean experts, Áder said.

He expressed deep condolences and sympathies with members of the victims’ families and the South Korean people.

In his letter to Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon, Orbán said Hungarian authorities will make all possible efforts to find the accident’s survivors.

“At this difficult moment, we are with family members of the victims and the South Korean people, ” Orbán said.

Parliamentary Speaker László Kövér has expressed his condolences to his South Korean counterpart over Wednesday’s ship collision in central Budapest, which claimed at least seven lives.

In his telegram to Moon Hee-sang, Kövér expressed his sympathies with the families and friends of the victims, parliament’s press office said.

Kövér assured his counterpart that Hungarian authorities will provide effective assistance to the survivors and do their utmost to find those who went missing.

May 30, 2019

Ship collision – South Korean foreign minister to travel to Budapest

South Korean foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha will travel to Budapest on Thursday, in connection with a ship collision in which at least 7 South Korean tourists died.

The minister will “personally manage the operations of her colleagues at the accident site”, the South Korean foreign ministry said, adding that they will closely cooperate with Hungarian authorities to efficiently handle the situation.

Two ships collided in central Budapest on Wednesday evening, one of which, carrying 33 South Korean tourists and a crew of 2, capsized and sank in the river Danube. The bodies of seven victims have been found, and seven others have been rescued.

For that matter, a search of the river began with 96 firefighters deployed, a disaster management spokesman said. In the morning hours the search continued south of the city. The search is made difficult by high water levels and bad weather conditions.

Interior minister Sándor Pintér and state secretary for health Ildiko Horvath were at the scene of the tragedy. Horvath said three of the country’s largest hospitals were on standby to receive the injured. The ambulance service reported later that survivors, who had not suffered major injuries, were taken to the Honved, Szent Imre and Merenyi Gusztav hospitals.

The ship that capsized and sank, a river cruise boat, is believed to have collided with a large luxury vessel. Its wrecks were located near a pillar of Margaret Bridge.

A spokesman for the company owning the boat told reporters that it was undergoing regular maintenance. He said he had no information about any technical problems with the boat.

Meanwhile, the South Korean government set up a government-level operative team headed by the foreign minister to cooperate with Hungarian authorities and assist South Koreans involved in the disaster.

May 30, 2019

Ship collision – Police to salvage wreck

Police experts will salvage the wreck of a sight-seeing boat that collided with a large cruisier and sank in the river Danube in central Budapest on Wednesday evening, national police (ORFK) spokesman Kristof Gál told public television M1 on Thursday.

Preparatory works are under way for the operation, which will be conducted in several phases, he said.

So far, the bodies of seven victims of collision have been recovered, while seven others are being treated in Budapest hospitals with light injuries.

The police spokesman said that the embankments of the Danube, which were closed down for traffic after the accident, have now been reopened, but further, temporary restrictions are expected during the salvage operation.

M1 reported that two dead bodies were recovered near Rákoczi Bridge, while a third one near the M0 ring in southern Budapest.

May 30, 2019

Tourist boat capsized in Budapest – Latest photos!

Two ships collided on the River Danube in front of the Parliament building on Wednesday evening. One of the ships, Hableány capsized and sank, at least seven people died, 21 missing.

More details:

Tourist boat capsized in Budapest, at least 7 dead! – UPDATE – PHOTOS
Danube ship collision – Here is the VIDEO

Latest photos:

May 30, 2019

Tourist boat capsized in Budapest, at least 7 dead! – UPDATE – PHOTOS

Tourist boat capsized in Budapest, at least 3 dead!

The Hungarian riverboat used for tourism capsized in Budapest, Hungary on Wednesday evening (10 PM) with 34 people on board, including passengers and crew, and a rescue effort was underway by Hungarian rescue crews.

LATEST PHOTOS

The boat called Hableány (in English: ‘Mermaid’) capsized after being hit by another tourist vessel.

The boat was moored near the Hungarian parliament building and reportedly was hit by another tourist vessel, then turned over on the Danube, which has been flooding with strong currents following a rainstorm and heavy rain in the Hungarian capital. In the accident, all the passengers, mainly South Korean tourists, went into the cold water.

accident budapest danube river boat — Photo: MTI

The Hungarian media speculated there might be at least seven fatalities in the accident in Budapest.

The Rescue crews are on the scene, and as the several media said, some of the people have already been rescued while the search for others continues.

The 16 missing after tourist river boat capsizes in Budapest

Previous photo of Hableány/Mermaid Event Boat

UPDATE

UPDATE: Death toll has since risen to 7.

The rescue mission is currently underway. A senior police officer on site informed news outlets that

“professional divers are looking for and rescuing survivors”.

Recent heavy rains made the current strong on the river and that is expected to make the rescue mission significantly harder.

UPDATE

Danube ship collision – Here is the VIDEO

The South Korean government set up a government-level operative team headed by the foreign minister to cooperate with Hungarian authorities and assist South Koreans involved in the disaster.

May 29, 2019