Seven SKoreans Dead, 21 Missing as Budapest Tourist Boat Sinks

(Bloomberg) -- Seven South Koreans are confirmed dead and 21 others are missing after a cruise ship collided with another on the Danube River in Budapest and sank, the Hungarian police said.

As of early Thursday local time, seven South Korean nationals were rescued, police spokesman Kristof Gal told public radio. Their condition was stable. The tourist boat was carrying 33 South Korean passengers and two crew members.

South Korea’s president Moon Jae-in has ordered Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha to lead a central response team to contact the families of the victims in the sinking, according to a text message from the presidential office.

The South Korean embassy in Hungary has formed a response team and consular representatives will be working with hospitals and travel agencies as needed, the foreign ministry said.

The police declined to say how the accident happened and whether police were able to question the crew. They will hold a press briefing at 10 a.m. local time.

Rescue boats were seen continuing to search for potential survivors along the Danube in Budapest. Unusually heavy rains over the past months that continued on Thursday have raised the river’s water level, generating fast currents and making the rescue operation more difficult.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jihye Lee in Seoul at jlee2352@bloomberg.net;Zoltan Simon in Budapest at zsimon@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Niluksi Koswanage at nkoswanage@bloomberg.net, Peter Pae, Karen Leigh

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