Rescuers on a boat are seen on the Danube river near the zone where the "Mermaid" sightseeing boat sank overnight after colliding with a larger vessel in pouring rain on May 30, 2019 in Budapest. (Photo by ATTILA KISBENEDEK / AFP)
BUDAPEST, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Hungarian President Janos Ader and Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Thursday expressed condolences to the heads of state and government of South Korea after a number of South Korean tourists died in a boat accident on the Danube in Budapest late Wednesday.
President Ader expressed his sympathy to South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in and said Hungarian officials were investigating the circumstances of the accident.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims and with the people of South Korea in these most difficult of moments," Orban wrote in a letter to South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon.
He said Hungarian authorities were making all possible efforts to find survivors of the accident.
A ship, the "Hableany" (Mermaid in English) carrying 33 South Korean tourists and two Hungarian crew collided with another vessel, a large Swiss hotel boat (type Viking) and sank in the Danube in the evening on Wednesday. At least seven died in the accident.
Hungarian authorities held a press conference Thursday morning and confirmed that 35 people were on board the Hableany, seven people were dead, seven saved, all South-Koreans, and 21 were still missing, including the two Hungarian crew members.
Search operations were still undergoing, but chances to find survivors were slim according to Police Colonel Adrian Pal.
The sunken boat has been located in the Danube close to the Margit Bridge, in central Budapest, but divers will have to examine the body of the ship to see if it can be elevated out of the water.
It is yet unknown if bodies of the missing people were still within the ship.
The South-Korean embassy helps Hungarian authorities in the identification of the victims, according to Pal, who added the accident has several witnesses. The accident was even recorded by a video camera from the nearby Margit Island.
