The captain of the cruise ship involved in a fatal collision on the Danube River in Budapest in 2019 was sentenced to 5.5 years in prison on Tuesday. 27 people died in the disaster.
The ship, Viking Sigyn, collided with a tourist boat on May 29, 2019 when it was raining heavily. The tour boat had 35 people on board and sailed right under the bridge. The boat sank in less than a minute.
Of the people on board, 25 South Korean tourists died, and not a single person on board has been found so far. Two Hungarian crew members also died. This was the worst disaster on the Danube in half a century.
The Ukrainian captain expressed his “deep regret” shortly before he was found guilty of negligence. “I cannot escape even for a minute from this terrible tragedy,” he said emotionally in court. “I cannot sleep and I think I will have to live with the memories for the rest of my life.”
The 60-year-old, who has been detained since 2019, was acquitted of not providing assistance to drowning people. According to prosecutors, he did not direct his employees to help the victims.
