Hungarian boat tragedy: two more bodies recovered as South Korean divers join search for missing tourists
- Death toll rises to nine, with 19 still missing, including a six-year-old girl
- Latest victims found were a woman and a middle-aged man
Hungarian police confirmed on Monday the discovery of two more victims of a sightseeing boat’s collision with a river cruise ship in Budapest last week, raising the toll to nine tourists killed.
Only seven of the 35 people on board have been found to have survived so far, leaving 19 still missing, with the prospect of finding any more passengers alive seen as very slim.
The Mermaid boat carrying mainly South Korean tourists overturned and sank last Wednesday seconds after colliding with the Viking Sigyn cruise ship on a busy stretch of the Danube River in the heart of the Hungarian capital.
Seven victims were recovered from the water within hours of the accident, but strong currents and a water level swollen by weeks of rain have hampered the search for those missing and had prevented divers from reaching the Mermaid, which lies some nine metres below the surface.
But South Korean divers helped by their Hungarian counterparts were able to bring another victim to the surface from the sunken vessel Monday, according to Hungarian police.