Tourists killed in Budapest boat disaster

At least seven people have died and more than 20 others missing after a sightseeing boat carrying South Korean tourists sank on the flooding Danube in Hungary's capital, according to police and rescue officials.

Hungarian police said on Thursday they have launched a criminal investigation into what was one of the country's worst boat accidents. "A criminal investigation has been launched. Police are investigating at the scene," police colonel Adrian Pal told a news conference.

The boat collided with a much larger luxury passenger boat during a rainstorm late on Wednesday near the parliament building, capsized and sank with some 30 tourists on board. The cause of the collision was under investigation.

“I am not inclined to say there is no hope, so I would rather say there is a minimal chance (of finding survivors),” Pal Gyorfi, a spokesman of the Hungarian national ambulance service, told the m1 state television station.

“This is not just because of the water temperature, but the strong currents in the river, the vapour above the water surface, as well as the clothes worn by the people who fell in,” he said when asked about the search for the missing.

Police showed security camera footage from a bridge that showed the two boats colliding. "It sank within seven seconds," Pal said.

A massive rescue effort was under way with boats, divers, spotlights, and radar scanning along the river several kilometres downstream.

Officials said 14 people had been pulled out of the water so far. Seven of them had died, with the other seven suffering from hypothermia but stable.

Staff from the South Korean embassy in Budapest were assisting Hungarian officials in identifying those rescued and the deceased.