At least seven people died and sixteen were missing after a tourist boat capsized on the Danube River in the Hungarian capital Wednesday, according to state news agency MTI.
The boat was reportedly hit by another tourist vessel near the Hungarian parliament building, then turned over on the river, which has been flooding with very strong currents, as a rainstorm enveloped Budapest.
News web site Index.hu cited the boat’s owner as saying the boat — the Mermaid — had sunk. Reuters could not immediately verify the information about the victims.
MTI said the boat has been carrying 33 people, mostly Asian tourists, plus two crew. MTI reported 14 people had been pulled from the river — seven of them dead.
Rescue efforts were under way, with dozens of vehicles visible several hundred metres downstream from the site of the accident, which happened shortly before 10 p.m. local time.
At least one tourist had to be revived, and several people needed treatment, the National Ambulance Service told MTI.
Television footage showed the bank of the Danube closed off by police on the Pest side to the east, across from the World Heritage site of Buda Castle on the west side.
Police ordered all shipping to stop on the Danube in central Budapest in a statement.
The Danube’s flooding and currents made rescue efforts extremely difficult, a rescue diver told the state broadcaster, adding that the waters of the Danube were only about 10 to 12 degrees Celsius.
The boat was a 27-metre double-decker which can hold 60 people and was equipped with a 150-horsepower engine, its owner, Panorama Deck Ltd., told MTI in a statement.
“We are mobilizing every resource we have to protect human lives,” they added.
The Mermaid had been in their fleet since 2003 and received regular maintenance, they said.