7 killed after boat capsizes in Budapest

International Desk: At least seven people were killed and nearly 20 were missing after a pleasure boat carrying South Korean tourists capsized on the flooding Danube in the Hungarian capital on Wednesday, police and ambulance officials said.

The boat reportedly collided with another tourist vessel near the Hungarian parliament building, before turning over on the river, which has been flooding, with very strong currents, while a rainstorm enveloped Budapest.

In Seoul, the foreign ministry said the South Koreans aboard the vessel when it sank were 30 tourists and three tour guides, in addition to the crew of two Hungarians. Seven of the South Koreans were rescued, seven died and 19 were missing, it added.

"South Korean President Moon Jae-in issued an urgent order to work with the Hungarian government for rescue efforts," his spokeswoman, Ko Min-jung, told reporters.

An emergency rescue team is among the 18 officials South Korea is sending to Budapest, the foreign ministry added, and it will provide counselling to victims' families.

A Hungarian ambulance spokesman told state television that 14 people were pulled from the water. Seven have died, with the rest suffering from hypothermia but stable.

A massive rescue effort deployed boats, divers, spotlights, and radar scanning to scour the river for several kilometres downstream from the accident site.
Journalists at the scene said they saw children's ambulances on the riverbank.


risingbd/May 30, 2019/Mukul