Journalists told the Reuters news agency they saw children’s ambulances on the riverbank. The travel agency said that the sightseeing boat was on its way back after an hourlong night tour when it collided with a larger cruise ship.Senior agency official Lee Sang-moo disclosed the identities of the seven rescued South Koreans – six women and one man, aged between 31 and 66.The sunken boat was located early Thursday near the Margit Bridge, not far from the neo-Gothic Parliament building on the riverbank.Employees from the South Korean Embassy in Budapest were assisting Hungarian officials in identifying those rescued and the deceased.Officials said searchers were checking the Danube for miles downriver from Budapest. The river was fast-flowing and rising as heavy rain continued in the city. Water temperatures were about 50-53 degrees.Earlier, the news website Index.hu said one of those rescued was found near the Petofi Bridge, which is about 2 miles south of Parliament.

Dozens of rescue personnel, including from the military and divers, were involved in the search.The boat that sank was identified as the “Hableany” (Mermaid), which is described on the sightseeing company’s website as “one of the smallest members of the fleet.” It has two decks and a capacity of 60 people, or 45 for sightseeing cruises.Mihaly Toth, a spokesman for the Panorama Deck boating company, said the “Hableany” was on a “routine city sightseeing trip” when the accident happened. He told state television that he had no information about any technical problems with the boat, which he said was serviced regularly.The Margit Bridge connects the two halves of the city, Buda and Pest, with a large recreational island in the middle of the Danube. It is the bridge just north of the famous Chain Bridge, a suspension bridge originally built in the 19th century that like the Parliament is a major tourist draw in the heart of the city.The river flows south, meaning that survivors were likely to be swept through the well populated, historic part of the city.Index.hu reported that other riverboats shined spotlights into the water to aid with the search, and that a film crew operating on the Liberty Bridge farther down the river directed its lighting equipment toward the Danube to assist. In recent years, Budapest has emerged as a popular destination for film, television and other commercial video production.Budapest has enjoyed a boom in overseas tourism in recent years. Long-haul flights from as far away as Dubai and Beijing increasingly fly visitors from Asia and the Middle East to the Hungarian capital, a relatively affordable but history-rich European destination.

Hajoregiszter.hu, a local ship-tracking website, lists the “Hableany” as having been built in 1949 in what was then the Soviet Union.

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