Budapest - The captain of a boat which collided with a smaller
sightseeing boat on the River Danube killing at least seven people
has been arrested, police in Budapest said late Thursday.
There were personal and material reasons to suspect the Ukrainian
national, police said, without giving any further details.
Meanwhile the search for 21 people still missing after Wednesday's
incident in the Hungarian capital continued, although hopes of
finding the victims alive were small as rescue work was hampered by
strong currents and poor visibility.
The body of one person was found kilometres away from the site of the
collision, police said.
The smaller boat, Hableany, had 35 people on board - 33 South Korean
tourists and two crew members - when it was hit late Wednesday near
the Margaret Bridge and sank within seconds.
The skipper and the other crew member of the Hableany were among
those missing, police spokesman Adrian Pal told a news conference in
Budapest earlier Thursday.
The Hableany had turned in front of the larger boat, the Viking
Sigyn, before it was hit, Pal said. No one on board the Viking was
injured.
Seven survivors were plucked from the river shortly after the
accident by passengers on other boats. They had to be treated for
hypothermia even after a relatively short time in the water, rescuers
said.
Preparations also began Thursday to raise the wreck of the Hableany,
with soldiers building a special diving platform, although conditions
were hampering their work as well.
"The raising of the wreck could take days, even a week," state-run
news agency MTI quoted the chief of a company, which specializes in
raising wrecks, as saying.
Meanwhile the first relatives of the South Korean victims set off for
Hungary, according to South Korean broadcasters.
Ten relatives had already set off and another 30 were set to follow
later on Friday. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung Wha was also expected in
Budapest as well as South Korean rescue workers, including specialist
divers.
In Seoul, Vice Foreign Minister Lee Tae Ho expressed disappointment
with the slow pace of the rescue work.
"It is very regrettable that there has not been any change [for the
better] as to the situation," he said during a government disaster
management session, according to the news agency Yonhap.
"There has been no progress in rescue operations due to strong
currents of waters there on top of bad weather conditions."