A tourist riverboat capsized in Budapest in Hungary on Wednesday evening around 10 pm and 7 people have been confirmed dead, while 19 are still missing.
According to the report by Dailynewshungary, the tourism boat capsized in Budapest, Hungary after hitting another tourist vessel on Wednesday evening (10 PM) with 34 people on board, including passengers and crew.
After the efforts by rescue workers, seven persons were brought out dead, and effort is still ongoing to rescue more people whether dead or alive.
Reports have it that the tourist boat was moored near the Hungarian parliament building and reportedly was hit by another tourist’s 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.
Thirty of the tourists on board were travelling with South Korean tour company Very Good Tour, the company’s chief operating officer Lee Sang-moo said at a press conference.
Lee said the group included nine families, most people in their 40s and 50s, although at least one child was on board.
Mihaly Toth, a spokesman for boating company Panorama Deck, which operated the capsized ship, said the company could not confirm why the boat sank.
“It was just an average day, and this was a regular trip. We carry out thousands of tourist boat trips every day, there were no signs that something like this could happen,” Toth said.
The tourist boat, called the Mermaid, had been operating on the Danube since 2003 and there had been “no signs of a possible issue with the boat,” he added.