By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Hungarian police say two people have died and five are missing following a boat collision on the Danube River, prompting a massive search and rescue operation.
Authorities say they received a report late Saturday that a man had been found bleeding from his head on the shore of the Danube near the Hungarian town of Veroce, around 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of the capital, Budapest. The bodies of a man and a woman were later discovered nearby.
Police said they determined that a river cruise boat had been in the area at the time of the accident.
Eight adults were aboard the small motor boat at the time of the collision, according to police investigators.
Police stopped a cruise boat with a damaged hull near the town of Komarom, which was more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) further upriver.
Witnesses saw the Swiss-based cruise ship Heidelberg moored in Kamarom with significant scratches visible on the bow.
CHINESE TOURISTS
A group of Chinese tourists disembarked on Sunday afternoon, although one of the tourists told reporters he had “not been aware of any accident” at the time.
Police said they launched a criminal investigation against an unknown perpetrator to determine the cause of the accident. “The goal of the investigation is to find whether anyone is criminally liable,” said Soma Csécsi, a spokesperson for the Budapest police.
Yet that did little to find the missing as disaster response units, including 95 personnel, 25 vessels, and drones, still searched Sunday for the five missing, officials said.
People were looking along the entire Hungarian section of the Danube downstream from the site, police said in published remarks.
The deadly accident comes five years after at least 27 people were killed in Budapest when a river cruise boat collided with a smaller tourist vessel, sinking it in seconds.
It has highlighted concerns about the many tourism-related vessels active in Hungary along the Danube River, Europe’s main waterway.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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