| Members of a South Korean rescue team search an area on the Danube River near the Hungarian Parliament building, Monday, where a sightseeing boat capsized Wednesday after being hit by a larger vessel. AP-Yonhap |
By Park Ji-won
A body believed to be that of a missing Korean tourist was found 100 kilometers away from the site of the deadly sinking of the sightseeing boat, Hableany, on the Danube River in Hungary, a government official said Monday (local time).
Song Shun-keun, the leader of the government response team and a defense attache at the South Korean Embassy in Budapest told Korean reporters: “Hungarian officials said a man's body which appears to be a South Korean aged between 55 and 60 was found in Harta, 102 kilometers from the accident. An identification check is underway.
He added, “Local Hungarians reported finding the body to local police, and officers there retrieved it.” The Hungarian government is in the process of verifying the victim's identity, he said.
The discovery comes five days after a larger sightseeing vessel collided with the Hableany, Wednesday, killing seven Korean tourists and leaving 21 others missing. Seven were rescued.
Two Korean and two Hungarian divers conducting a joint test dive at 9:00 a.m. Monday but came back empty-handed, according to the government and Hungarian authorities. Strong currents continue to hamper search and rescue operations as they have since the boat sank.
Earlier in the day, the Hungarian Magyar Nemzet daily reported that four bodies had been found 20 kilometers from the sinking site over the weekend. However, local and South Korean officials said they had no information and were unable to confirm the report.
The Hungarian government, meanwhile, announced that it would seek to promptly raise the submerged boat as soon as possible, although Seoul wants more search operations conducted by its divers.
During a joint press conference with Song, Janos Hajdu, head of Hungary's Counter-Terrorism Center who is heading up the search operation, made it clear that his government was strictly prohibiting divers from entering the sunken boat as it was unnecessarily risking their lives. Hajdu said the wreckage was located at a depth of nine meters, about 3 meters deeper than previously announced. Song, later added that the operation to raise the Halbeany was expected to begin as early as June 5, with a view to completion by June 9.
Song said that while he respected the Hungarian government's decision to raise the ship rather than conducting diving operations, he had requested that it reconsider its decision, so as to allow South Korean divers to look inside the sunken boat for bodies.
President Moon Jae-in said Monday (KST) that his government would take all possible measures, and cooperate with the Hungarian government, to discover the cause of the accident.