It has been confirmed that a Viking River cruise ship has been involved in a tragic collision on the Danube River in Hungary.
River Cruise Tragedy
On Wednesday night a tourist boat named Mermaid was involved in a collision which caused the vessel to sink on the Danube River in Budapest, Hungary. At the moment we are sad to report that a total of seven people have died and a further 21 are missing according to authorities.
The majority of those onboard the small boat were from South Korea, there were 33 onboard from the country and two crew members. Many of the those who are missing are believed to have been caught in the strong currents taking them away from the crash location outside of the city. Hope for the missing grows smaller due to the cold temperatures and the initial darkness when the boat sank yesterday evening.
We now know that the other vessel involved was a Viking River cruise ship named Sigyn and the cruise line has released a statement:
At 21:00 local time (29th May), the Viking river ship Sigyn was in the vicinity of another vessel – a Hungarian tourist ship – when it was involved in an incident on the Danube River in Budapest. There were no injuries to Viking crew or Viking guests. We are cooperating with the authorities as required.
According to footage posted online, the Viking Riverboat approached the Mermaid from the aft and clipping it as both vessels were heading under the Margaret Bridge in Budapest. As a result, the small boat overturned and sank. An investigation has been launched and the search for the missing continues. You can view the footage below:
The Sigyn river ship is 443 feet long and has a gross tonnage of 5,000. It has a guest capacity of 190 at double occupancy across a total of 95 cabins.
Our thoughts go out the families and friends of those who have died and remain missing. This sure is worrying and questions will be asked how this happened. If there are any new major developments we will of course keep Cruise Hive readers informed.
