Lee Min-hyung joined The Korea Times in 2014 and has worked as a journalist mainly in Korea’s finance, tech and automotive industry. He specializes in content creation, breaking news and in-depth analysis currently on transportation and mobility. You can reach him via mhlee@koreatimes.co.kr.
Three bodies recovered from Danube
Hungarian and Korean rescue team members search at the location of a boat accident on the Danube River in Budapest, June 3. AFP-Yonhap
By Lee Min-hyung
By Lee Min-hyung
The bodies of three passengers from the ill-fated sightseeing boat Hableany, which capsized and sank in an accident on the Danube River last week, have now been recovered, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Tuesday.
Initially two bodies, those of a Korean man in his 60s and a Korean woman in her 50s, were recovered Monday, followed by the third, also identified as a Korean man, at 12:47 p.m. Tuesday (local time).
The latest body was found 55 kilometers south of the accident site, according to Song Shun-keun, the defense attache at the South Korean Embassy in Budapest.
He said a Hungarian military helicopter spotted the body and recovered it.
The death toll from the accident has now risen to 10 Koreans, with 16 remaining missing; two Hungarian crewmembers are also unaccounted for.
Earlier Tuesday, reporting on the discovery of the first two corpses, an official from the ministry said: “According to a joint identification procedure by the Korean and Hungarian authorities, a body found about 132 kilometers away from the scene of the accident was confirmed to be a Korean man in his 60s.”
The woman's body was found near to the sunken boat.
Korea has assisted the Hungarian teams in their recent search and rescue activities, but no outstanding progress has been made so far due to very bad weather conditions on the river.
On Monday, four divers, two from Korea and two from the Hungarian emergency rescue services, carried out a test dive near the site of the tragedy. However, the local authorities decided not to allow them to approach the wreckage of the sightseeing boat, citing safety concerns.
The search and rescue operations in the wake of the accident have been hampered largely because of the fast river current and low visibility in the water.
For this reason, the local authorities have decided to salvage the sunken Hableany as early as possible by mobilizing cranes and other equipment.
The ill-fated boat, carrying 35 people, capsized and sank after a collision with a larger sightseeing vessel. Only seven passengers were recovered alive.
Song, who is heading the Korean government's emergency response team, said the authorities plan to start the salvage work as early as today and intend to complete it before Sunday.
“We have asked the Hungarian government to set up nets around the wreckage to prevent any bodies from being carried away,” he told reporters in a media briefing Monday.
“Hungary plans to start the work Wednesday, but depending on how deep the boat is located in the river, the exact timeline could be shifted,” he said.