Floating crane arrives in Budapest to lift sunken tour boat from river
The confirmed death toll has reached 13 after the sightseeing boat sunk in the Danube last Wednesday.
A huge floating crane designed to lift a sunken sightseeing boat from the Danube has arrived in Budapest as the search for more bodies continues.
But rising waters in the river could impede the crane from reaching the site of the tragedy for up to four days, said Istvan Gyenyei, captain of the Adam Clark floating crane.
The Hableany sightseeing boat, carrying 33 South Koreans and two Hungarian crew members, capsized and sank in about seven seconds after a collision last Wednesday night with the Viking Sigyn, a river cruise ship.
“If the boat’s hull doesn’t break, the ropes will bear it for sure,” the captain said, adding that the plan is to put the Hableany on a barge in the river once raised out of the water.
“We will try to lift it in ways that reduce the chance of the boat breaking.”
The confirmed death toll has risen to 13 after two more bodies were recovered from the river. Seven people were rescued and 15 remain missing.
Officials in the Hungarian capital said the remains of a South Korean man were found at the village of Adony, about 30 miles downstream from 
Song Shun-keun, military attache at the South Korean embassy, said divers had started the process of tying wires on the boat so it could be raised by the crane.
Mr Song also said South Korea, whose divers and rescue personnel are helping their Hungarian counterparts, is sending more equipment to Hungary, including underwater drones, to help with search and recovery efforts.
The operation has been slowed by the Danube’s fast flow, typically high springtime water levels and near-zero visibility underwater.
