The body of the Hungarian captain of the tourist boat Hableány (Mermaid) has been removed from the wreck after the vessel sank on May 29 when she with the cruise ship Viking Sigyn.

The Hableány was brought to the surface on Tuesday, and four victims were recovered, including the captain and the only child that was on the vessel. There were seven survivors in the incident and 24 now confirmed dead, most South Koreans. Four remain missing.

The Hableány, a 27-meter (89-foot) double-decker tourist ship, sank quickly after colliding with the 135-meter (443-foot) Viking Sigyn on the Danube River in Budapest last Wednesday night. The wreck was found on the bed of the river close to one of the pillars of Margaret Bridge. Some of the bodies that were recovered last week were pulled out of the water several miles south of the bridge where the incident occurred, according to a map release by the police.

Questions have been raised about the high amount of traffic on the Danube at the time and the possible tightening of water traffic regulations.

The 64-year-old captain of the Viking Sigyn, who is a Ukrainian citizen, was arrested last Thursday following questioning. The court has ordered that he be detained for a period of 30 days pending prosecution. </s> Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The tour boat sank seconds after a collision with another vessel

The captain of a vessel that collided with a small tour boat on the Danube in Budapest, resulting in at least seven deaths, has been arrested, police say.

The 64-year-old Ukrainian national was held as a suspect over reckless misconduct in waterborne traffic leading to mass casualties.

The boat carrying South Korean tourists sank seven seconds after the collision during a rainstorm on Wednesday.

Hopes have faded that any of the 21 people missing will be found alive.

A criminal investigation has been launched into the collision, a rare incident on the Danube where navigation is busy but generally safe.

Seven people rescued alive were suffering from hypothermia but stable, an ambulance spokesman said.

South Korea's foreign minister, Kang Kyung-wha, is due to arrive in Budapest on Friday for a joint press conference with her Hungarian counterpart Péter Szijjártó.

Witness saw people 'screaming in the water'

CCTV footage showed the boat that sank - Hableany, or Mermaid - being hit from behind by a larger tour boat - Viking Sigyn - near the Margit (Margaret) Bridge in central Budapest after 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT).

"The whole thing happened very quickly" said Clay Findley, a US tourist who was on the Viking Sigyn.

"I thought at first we were going to miss it, but the front of the Viking hit the back of that little boat... and then the hull popped up on the opposite side of the ship, just a few seconds later, and then it was down."

Image copyright IDOKEP.HU/via REUTERS Image caption This still from CCTV footage shows the two vessels (encircled) just minutes before the collision

Another passenger, 66-year-old Ginger Brinton from the US, told the AFP news agency that he was on the boat's balcony when he "saw people in the water, screaming for help".

He added: "We never felt any bump. We didn't realise. We just saw people in the water. It was just terrible."

No-one on the Swiss-registered Viking Sigyn was injured.

Hungarian police said the investigation yielded evidence that raised questions of personal responsibility so it questioned the captain - identified as Yuriy C., from Odessa - as a suspect and later decided to take him into custody.

Emergency crews found the wreckage of the Hableany, a double-decker river cruise boat built in 1949 in the former Soviet Union, on the riverbed near the Margaret Bridge and were preparing to lift it.

What is known about the rescue operation?

Thirty South Korean tourists and three tour guides, as well as two Hungarian crew, were on board the Hableany.

Most of the tourists were aged between 40 and 50 but the group also included a six-year-old child and a man in his 70s, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.

Image copyright EPA Image caption Hope was fading that any of the missing would be found alive

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Candles were lit on the Danube bank in Budapest

The seven rescued alive included a 31-year-old passenger identified only by her surname Jung, who told Yonhap: "The current was so fast and people were floating away."

Another survivor, a 32-year-old woman named as Yoon, said: "The boat flipped instantly and capsized."

Image copyright Reuters Image caption The Hableany boat - seen in this archive photo - has a capacity of 45 people for sightseeing trips

The rescue operation continued with boats, divers, spotlights, and radar scanning along the river, where the temperature of the water was between 10C and 12C (50F-54F).

But teams warned that, as more time passed, the strong currents caused by heavy rainfall would carry people further downstream, lessening the chances of finding survivors.

The seven confirmed victims were not wearing life jackets and three of them were found several kilometres from the site of the collision, police said.

'An accident waiting to happen'

By Nick Thorpe, BBC News, Budapest

There has been a dramatic increase in river traffic in recent years as tourism increases in Budapest.

Andras Kurbely, a crew member of another large cruise ship with 27 years of experience on the Danube, told the BBC that this was an accident he and others have long worried about.

"It's just not healthy to have so many large ships, which are much more powerful and harder to manoeuvre, carving a route between so many smaller boats."

In his view, the practice of the river cruisers, which sail up and down the river between the five main bridges as an after-dinner excursion for their passengers, should be stopped.

What has the reaction been?

Relatives of the passengers were travelling from South Korea to Hungary.

Meanwhile, flowers were laid outside the country's embassy in Budapest and candles were lit on the Danube bank.

Earlier, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said his government planned "to co-operate with the Hungarian government to thoroughly investigate the cause of the accident".

For South Koreans, the sinking is a painful reminder of the Sewol disaster in 2014, the BBC's Laura Bicker in Seoul reports.

The ferry of that name sank off South Korea's Jindo island, killing 304 people, almost all of them schoolchildren on a trip. The ship's captain was later convicted of murder. </s> SALVAGE crews recovered four bodies on Tuesday as they slowly lifted the wreck of a boat two weeks after it capsised.

 It capsised on the Danube River in Budapest with a group of South Korean tourists on board, officials said.

 The Mermaid boat sank in seconds on May 29, after a large cruise liner hit it from behind under a bridge in the Hungarian capital during heavy rain.

 26, tourists, two Hungarian crew died in the worst disaster on the river in half a century.

 The bodies of all but four of the victims have now been recovered.

 One of the bodies was spotted as the captain’s cabin came to the surface, said the spokesman for Hungary’s Special Forces, who are coordinating the recovery operation.

 “Now we will make further checks, in the parts of the boat where there could be further victims,” Nandor Jasenszky said.

 State news agency MTI reported that a total of four victims had been found on Tuesday and recovered by divers.

 Salvage crews saluted in respect as each body was removed.

 Divers had pulled straps under the sunken wreck to allow a huge floating crane to start lifting it.

 Each level of the boat would be searched as it surfaced and the vessel would then be hoisted onto a barge, Jasenszky added.

 The captain of the cruise liner Viking Sigyn, a 64-year-old man identified by police as C. Yuriy from Odessa, Ukraine is being held as a suspect.

 His lawyers said he is devastated but did nothing wrong.

 The captain was held under suspicion of misconduct in waterborne traffic leading to mass casualties, police have said.

 Swiss-based Viking Cruises Ltd, which owns the Viking Sigyn, has said it is cooperating with Hungarian investigators. </s> BUDAPEST
• Salvage crews recovered four bodies yesterday as they slowly lifted the wreck of a boat from the Danube River in Budapest, two weeks after it capsized with a group of South Korean tourists on board, officials said.

The Mermaid sank in seconds on May 29, after a cruise liner hit it from behind under a bridge in the Hungarian capital during heavy rain. Twenty-six of the tourists and the two Hungarian crew members died in the worst disaster on the river in half a century. The bodies of all but four of the victims have now been recovered.

One of the bodies was spotted as the captain's cabin came to the surface, said the spokesman for Hungary's special forces, who are coordinating the recovery operation.

"Now we will make further checks... in the parts of the boat where there could be further victims," Mr Nandor Jasenszky said.

State news agency MTI reported that a total of four victims were found yesterday and recovered by divers. Salvage crews saluted in respect as each body was removed.

Divers had placed straps under the sunken wreck to allow a huge floating crane to lift it. The Mermaid was lifted onto a barge that will take it to Csepel, an industrial port in south Budapest.

The captain of the cruise liner Viking Sigyn - a 64-year-old man identified as C. Yuriy from Odessa, Ukraine - is being held as a suspect. His lawyers said he is devastated but did nothing wrong.

The captain was held under suspicion of misconduct in waterborne traffic leading to mass casualties, police said. Swiss-based Viking Cruises, which owns the Viking Sigyn, said it is cooperating with Hungarian investigators. </s> BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian salvage crews prepared on Monday to raise the wreck of a pleasure boat that capsized on the Danube river in Budapest, killing 26 South Korean tourists and two local crew.

The Mermaid sank after a large Swiss-owned cruise liner struck it from behind on May 29 as both vessels passed under a 19th century bridge in the Hungarian capital during heavy rain.

It was the worst disaster in half a century on Europe’s longest river, which has become an increasingly popular route for big hotel cruisers.

The bodies of all but eight of the victims have been recovered.

Divers inserted four straps under the sunken wreck to allow a floating crane to lift it, possibly starting on Tuesday morning, according to South Korean Embassy defense attache Song Shun-Keun.

He expressed concern that the ship might break up, or bodies could be dislodged.

“Therefore, Hungarian experts spend a lot of time figuring out how to lift the ship in a good balanced position,” he told reporters.

Hungarian special forces spokesman Nandor Jasenszky said divers had fixed the straps and made all the necessary checks.

“The boat can be lifted soon,” he said, adding that the first phase, when the wreck is raised off the riverbed, will be critical.

Once the captain’s deck appears, they will stop and search for the body of the captain before continuing to lift the boat very slowly.

“It cannot be excluded that something happens to the hull (during the process) but we are hoping it won’t,” Jasenszky added.

The wreck will be placed on a barge before the police take over the investigation.

The Viking Sigyn cruise liner’s captain, a 64-year-old Ukrainian man identified by police as C. Yuriy, is being held as a suspect. His lawyers said he was upset but did nothing wrong.

Seven South Koreans were saved and 20 of the victims’ bodies have been recovered. On a nearby embankment, people have placed flowers, candles and teddy bears.

“I sincerely hope the missing bodies can be retrieved and brought back to their families to rest,” said South Korean tourist Lee Seung Hwan who was standing by the river. </s> Captain of cruise ship which collided with tour boat that sank on Danube River taken into custody by Hungarian police. </s> BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian police late on Thursday said it had taken into custody the captain of a cruise ship involved in an accident on the Danube River in central Budapest that killed at least seven South Korean tourists on Wednesday.

The captain is a 64-year-old Ukrainian citizen identified as C. Yury, from Odessa, whose arrest was initiated for reckless misconduct in waterborne traffic leading to mass casualties, police said on its website. </s> Budapest: The captain of a cruise ship that collided with a tour boat that sank on the Danube River in the heart of the Hungarian capital Budapest has been taken into custody.

The 64-year-old Ukrainian man, known only as C Yuriy, is suspected of endangering water transport leading to the deaths of at least seven people on board the tour boat.

Hungarian rescue officials said there was little chance of finding survivors after the boat with South Korean tourists on board sank, with 21 still missing.

The boat, the Mermaid, was cruising when it collided with a larger luxury passenger boat during a rainstorm on Wednesday evening, Budapest time, causing it to capsize and sink with 33 South Korean tourists and tour guides, and two Hungarian crew aboard. </s> Captain of cruise ship which collided with tour boat that sank on Danube River taken into custody by Hungarian police

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Captain of cruise ship which collided with tour boat that sank on Danube River taken into custody by Hungarian police.
The captain of the M/V Viking Sigyn that was involved in the deadly sinking of the Hableány is questioned and arrested by the Hungarian police.