BUDAPEST, Hungary — A sunken tour boat involved in a May 29 collision on the Danube river that killed at least 19 people is unlikely to be raised out of the water before Tuesday, Hungarian rescue officials said Saturday.
The sightseeing boat Hableany (Mermaid) was carrying 33 South Koreans and a two-man Hungarian crew when it collided with a much larger cruise ship on the river in Budapest.
Seven South Koreans were rescued after the nighttime crash in heavy rain, but eight of the passengers and the boat’s captain are still missing.
Hungarian and South Korean divers have been working for days to prepare the boat to be raised off the riverbed. A floating crane has been in place since Friday at the site of the accident near the Hungarian Parliament building.
The captain of the 95-cabin cruise ship, the Viking Sigyn, has been under arrest since June 1, suspected of endangering water transport leading to a deadly mass accident. Budapest police said Saturday that the 64-year-old Ukrainian has failed to provide any details about the circumstances of the crash.