Three more bodies found in Hungary; death toll reaches 15
A corpse retrieved from the shipwreck is transported to land from Margaret Bridge in Budapest, Hungary, 05 June 2019. EPA/ZOLTAN BALOGH
Three more bodies of South Koreans in a deadly boat accident in Hungary were found Wednesday, officials said, bringing the death toll to 15 and leaving 13 still unaccounted for.
The body of a man in his 60s was found first during an underwater search, followed by a woman in her 30s some 50 kilometers downstream from the site of the sinking on the Danube River in Budapest, South Korean government officials said, citing Hungarian police.
The third body was of a 40-something-year-old woman, which was retrieved after it surfaced on waters above the sunken cruise boat.
A rescue crew works on the Danube river where a sightseeing boat capsized in Budapest, Hungary, Wednesday, June 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Laszlo Balogh)
The floating crane Adam Clark proceeds down the Danube Bend toward Budapest, where it will help salvage a tourist boat that capsized last week, killing 28 mostly Korean tourists, near Nagymaros, Hungary, June 5, 2019. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo
A total of 33 Koreans and two Hungarian crew members were on the boat amid heavy rain when it collided with a larger cruise vessel and sank in the river on Wednesday last week.
Seven South Koreans were initially reported dead, while seven other tourists were rescued. Investigators later recovered five bodies on Monday and Tuesday, which were all confirmed to be South Koreans.
South Korea has sought Hungary's permission to search inside the wreck to find more victims, but Hungarian authorities have disapproved over safety concerns and begun steps to lift the boat from the riverbed. (Yonhap)