let's shift our focus now to Budapest where preparation work on the Danube
River is underway to raise the wreckage of the sightseeing boat that capsized
last week the bodies of all but eight of the 35 victims 33 South Korean tourists
and two Hungarian crew members have been recovered in an intensive search up and
down the river after the worst disaster in more than half a century on the
longest river in Europe now to bring us up to speed on the situation there
I have Stefan boss international correspondent for DW news connecting
live with us Stefan are things for the live hit I know it's midnight in
Budapest no problem is honored to be here so there's been reports that the
wreckage and lifting operation could take place later this Monday morning for
you there are we still on that schedule well it seems to be that we are not on
that schedule unfortunately what they are saying now
that's most likely they will be able to start lifting the ship on Tuesday so
after Pentecost Monday here Pentecostal holiday and they are really hoping to
lift the sightseeing boat on Tuesday but it is extremely difficult because the
currents of the river is very fast they have also been problems with visibility
that's almost zero for the South Korean and Hungarian divers and quite frankly
there has been some frustration among the South Korean divers also about the
speed of this whole process but the Hungarians have pleaded also to the
South Korean divers to to be careful because they are afraid that otherwise
there will be even more victims in this whole rescue operation because it's
quite a dangerous attempt to lift this boat in a moment
absolutely safety comes before anything else now on that there has been calls
that there needs to be a unique method in raising at this wreckage what kind of
method is the South Korean Hungarian joint team planning to adopt in safely
raising the Hubley Ani I mean what seems to be the key there well what seems to
be the key is using a flow in crane and actually that was very
difficult to get at equipment to the market bridge where the accident
happened it's very close here to the Parliament building and it is very
difficult to a use that equipment they have brought it to the area now but the
question is can they really lift it because the boat is about nine meters
underwater it is basically on the river floor and it is very difficult and also
I have to say dangerous operation but they are trying all they can and they
really hope that within perhaps the next two days they will be able to lift the
mermaid boat as it is also called the sightseeing sunken vessel right now I
want to touch upon the criminal investigation that's underway involving
the Ukrainian captain of the vessel that rammed into the much smaller sightseeing
boat the table Gani what is the latest on that front I mean any developments on
finding leads to what actually happened at the time of the collision well it is
a very difficult investigation in fact they have spoken with hundreds of
witnesses and dozens of other people as well who they are trying to ask about
this basically this accident but what we do know is that according to
investigators the captain of the ship that hits the mermaid boat basically
deleted all kind of crucial information from his mobile phone also there have
been reports that he was involved in a previous similar accident in the
netherlands in april in the town of genoa that is very close to belgium then
at that time there were only injured people likely injured i have to add but
that is also a point of investigation now at the same time we have to be
careful though because questions have still been raised wide about the
sightseeing boat went into the path of that much larger ship there have been
some suggestions that it appeared that a small boat steered into the direction of
the larger ship so that is still being investigated at this moment
but of course at the captain of the boat also died so that will be a mystery for
some time to come to solve right much more investigation along the way so what
does the tragic ship collision leave Hungary with now I mean what are some
looming questions that linger in the mind of the Hungarian people as well as
the authorities there well what was first of all very moving for me to see
that of course beyond the questions it also has really impacted not only the
South Korean community here and of course the South Korean relatives who
have been here as well of those who died but definitely also for the Hungarian
staff come here with flowers and candles I also saw a South Korean flag on the
market bridge and of course the questions remain really how could this
happen one of the issues that have been raised
is that authorities were warned already years ago that as such an accident
actually could take place there was some concern raised from the shipping
industry and I think questions will be asked now how could this happen and how
could this be prevented of course Budapest is a very popular city among
tourists many want to use sightseeing boats but the questions have been raised
whether that industry went ahead of itself and whether there should be more
regulation on what is really one of Europe's main waterways the Danube River
absolutely uh obviously never to be repeated that kind of accident live from
Budapest for us many things for that you're welcome