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The South Korean quick response team and a Hungarian emergency response team on a search and rescue mission in the Danube River in Budapest, Hungary, on June 3, five days after a river cruiser sank carrying 35 passengers. (Shin So-young, staff photographer)
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Ship will likely be raised by crane while minimizing damage to hull
Efforts to raise the Hableány (Hungarian for “Mermaid”), a river cruiser carrying 35 passengers that sank on the Danube River in Budapest, are expected to begin as early on June 6, eight days after the accident occurred. “I think we’ll get started [on raising the ship] as early as Thursday afternoon. But it could actually take longer than that,” said Song Sun-geun, a military attaché with the South Korean ambassador to Hungary and head of search and rescue on South Korea’s quick response team, on the morning of June 4. Changes in the situation could delay the work until June 8 or 9. Sources from the quick response team say that, once a crane arrives at the Margaret Bridge, the site of the accident, on the morning of June 6, the Hableány will be wrapped in ropes or chains and then lifted up by the crane. During an interview with local media outlet HVG, Antal Vamosi, president of the National Association of Industrial Divers (IBOSZ), said that if that method proves impractical, another way to lift the ship would be to fasten it with a rope or chain running through a hole drilled in the engine room. In regard to the specific method of raising the ship, experts are reportedly looking into ways to minimize damage to the hull. “Since there’s a lot of damage to the middle of the hull, our goal is to reinforce the hull to prevent it from breaking in half [while it’s being raised],” said János Hajdu, director-general of Hungary’s Counter Terrorism Centre. In order to raise the 53-ton Hableány, a large crane called the Clark Adam is supposed to be deployed to the scene. Capable of lifting up to 200 tons, this crane was also used to raise the Austrian cargo ship SL 2537, which sank in the Danube in January 2013. In order to attach the crane below the Margaret Bridge, the water level of the Danube needs to fall below 4m, and the Hungarian press predicted that water levels will fall to 3.9m on June 8. On the morning of June 4, measurements of the water at the scene of the accident found a depth of 7.6m and a speed of 5.6kmh. Reports indicate that the Clark Adam is currently located at Komárom, a city 137km to the north of the scene of the accident. Now that the timeframe for raising the ship has been set and the weather conditions are improving, the South Korean and Hungarian rescue teams are planning to look for the missing until the ship is raised. “Until yesterday, we were planning to do test dives in preparation for raising the ship. [But now] you can assume that we’ll be searching the water until the ship has been completely raised,” Song said. This decision appears to be based on the likelihood of more remains turning up inside and outside of the hull. During a survey dive on June 3 carried out in preparation for raising the ship, divers found a body outside the hull of the Hableány that was confirmed to be one of the missing Koreans. Another reason the rescue workers are likely to focus on the underwater search until the ship is raised is that the remains of the missing and their effects could be damaged or lost while the ship is being raised. Divers weren’t given clearance to enter the hull as recently as June 4, reportedly because visibility remains poor. “Even going into the hull is incredibly dangerous for the lives of the divers. We have strictly forbidden it,” Hajdu said on Monday. Three more bodies discovered Two more bodies that are presumed to be some of those who went missing in the accident were found on the afternoon of June 4. At around 1 pm on June 4, a Hungarian military helicopter discovered the body of a Korean man in his 50s dressed in black around 55km south of the site of the accident. Around an hour later, Hungarian divers discovered the body of another Korean man dressed in a khaki t-shirt and blue jeans. The two bodies were both confirmed to be from the Hableány sinking. The identity of the body of another man in his 20s discovered around 50km from the accident site has yet to be confirmed. By Kim Ji-eun, Nam Eun-joo, and Park Yoon-kyung, staff reporters Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
