A boat filled with tourists collided with another and sank

The first reconstructions of the events indicate that the ship Hableány (Sirena), which was visiting the Danube section in Budapest, collided with another larger ship, the Viking, around 9 pm Wednesday. "At 21:15, it was learned that two ships had collided and that several people had fallen to the water," police said Adrián Pál during a press conference in Budapest.

The boat, returning from a trip with tourists from South Korea, struck a cruise ship and sank in just seven seconds.

In the Sirena, belonging to the Panorama Deck company, 27 meters long and with a capacity of 60 people, there were 31 tourists – including a minor – accompanied by two guides, all South Korean, as well as two members of Hungarian crew, 21 missing (19 South Koreans and two Hungarians). Seven pbadengers died and seven others were slightly injured, confirmed the colonel. "The condition of the seven hospitalized wounded is stable, they can communicate and have been treated for hypothermia," ambulance service spokesman M1 Pál Györfi told state-run television channel Magyar. "Unfortunately, in the case of seven other people, we could only determine his death," said Györfi, who explained that with the current water temperature of the Danube, 15 maximum degrees, the bodies cool down quickly.

The bad weather and strong river current, which has increased in volume due to heavy rains in recent days and melting snow from the mountains after winter, hamper relief operations.