Rescuers in Hungary have pulled a body from the Danube more than 100 km downstream from the scene of last week’s boat accident in Budapest, Euronews reports.
South Korean and Hungarian divers are working together to attempt to recover bodies from the wreck of The Mermaid, which sank on Wednesday carrying 33 South Korean tourists and two Hungarian crew.
At least seven people have died and a further 20 are still missing in the river’s worst disaster in half a century. Many bodies are believed to still be trapped inside the wreck, which divers have not been able to reach since the accident because of high flood waters and strong currents.
The South Korean rescue team aims to recover bodies while the shipwreck is still on the river bed, while Hungarians are looking at the option of lifting the hull out of the water first.
Euronews’ correspondent Karoly Szilagyi in Budapest says the diving teams have carried out an exploratory mission to find out how close they can get to the wreck.
The Ukrainian captain of the Viking Sigyn cruise liner, which collided with The Mermaid, has been detained and faces a criminal investigation. He denies wrongdoing.