Steven N.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in arrived in Budapest on Tuesday on an official visit to remember the victims of the Hableány cruise ship accident at the memorial commemorating the 2019 tragedy next to the Danube.
Minister of Finance Mihály Varga received the South Korean head of state, and together they paid tribute to the memory of the victims at the granite block at the Pest side of the Margaret Bridge, on which the names of those lost are inscribed.
A group of South Koreans in Hungary were also present at the monument to welcome Moon Jae-in and his wife Kim Jung-sook.
The Hableány (Mermaid) cruise ship sank on May 29, 2019 in Budapest, near the Margaret Bridge, after colliding with the Viking Sigyn hotel ship. There were 35 travellers onboard, 33 South Korean tourists and two Hungarian staff. Seven tourists were successfully rescued, and the bodies of 27 victims were recovered. One South Korean passenger is still officially recorded as missing.
The prosecutor’s office blames the Ukrainian captain of the hotel ship Viking Sigyn for the tragedy. The captain was indicted in November 2019 for negligent endangerment to water transport causing a fatal mass accident and for failing to provide assistance. The case remains under discussion.
[Telex]
