Subscribe to our social channels to get the latest news about Hungary!
Ship collision – Hungary and South Korea discuss rescue operations
Change language:
The Hungarian authorities are doing their utmost to successfully recover those missing after the ship collision on the River Danube and to clarify the circumstances of the disaster, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Friday, after meeting Kang Kyung-wha, his South Korean counterpart.
Kang arrived to Hungary on Friday, in the wake of the accident which claimed the lives of at least seven South Korean tourists.
On Wednesday evening, a small sight-seeing boat collided with a river cruiser and sank by the Budapest Parliament building. The boat carried 33 South Korean tourists and two Hungarian crew members. Seven tourists were rescued, and the bodies of seven others found.
At a joint press conference on Friday, Szijjártó said there were “large-scale technical preparations underway” to recover the wreck of the boat as soon as possible.
High waters and bad visibility underwater make the work difficult and dangerous, he said. Divers already tried and failed on Thursday to get close to where it lays six meters deep, he said.
Szijjártó thanked all professionals working in the rescue and recovery missions and the civilians who helped with the rescue immediately after the collision.
The search is expected to take a long time, he said. The river is being searched all the way to the southern border, and the Serbian authorities are also cooperating, he said.