Several bodies were yesterday recovered from the wreckage of a tour boat that sank in the Danube River as it was lifted out of the river in the Hungarian capital.
A huge floating crane, barges and rescue personnel were working early in the morning at Budapest’s Margit Bridge, where the Hableany (Mermaid) sightseeing boat sank on May 29 after colliding with a much larger river cruise ship.
The top of the Hableany was visible, as life jackets floated in the boat’s hull.
Photo: Reuters
Divers were searching the boat for more victims. Rescuers carried away four body bags on stretchers to a small police cruise boat waiting nearby.
Nineteen South Korean tourists and a Hungarian crewman have previously been confirmed dead, with eight people still missing.
Seven people were rescued after the nighttime collision amid heavy rain.
The lift is planned in several stages, depending, for example, on the condition of the hull, as the tour boat is raised off the river floor and the discovery of bodies in the wreckage.
The plan detailed on Monday by rescuers is to lift the Hableany with the floating crane and place it on a long barge. The boat would then be handed over to police investigating the collision.
Efforts to search for the missing victims of the accident and to raise the boat have been hindered by the Danube’s high springtime water levels — which are expected to fall significantly over the coming days in Budapest — and the river’s fast flow, as well as near-zero visibility under water.
The captain of the other ship in the collision, the Viking Sigyn, has been under arrest since June 1, suspected of endangering water transport leading to a deadly mass accident.
The Viking Sigyn, which left Budapest less than 48 hours after the collision with the Hableany, is back in Hungary on a scheduled trip and docked at the town of Visegrad, north of Budapest.
Police said they carried out another inspection on the ship on Monday.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese