“Hungary shares in South Koreas grief and is fully cooperating with it”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in a statement to Hungarian news agency MTI on Thursday.

In the statement, the Minister highlighted: “We were shocked to hear about the Danube ship disaster”. “We hereby express our condolences to the grieving families and wish the professionals involved in the search and rescue efforts much strength and perseverance”, he said.

The Republic of Korea’s Ambassador to Budapest Choe Kyoo-Sik was received in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Thursday morning. At the meeting, the Ambassador was informed of the fact that Mr. Szijjártó will be receiving South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha at the site of the accident on Friday, following which they will be holding talks at the Ministry.

“We share in the grief of our South Korean friends and are cooperating with them fully”, the Foreign Minister emphasised. “The relative authorities are doing everything possible to find possible survivors, uncover the causes of the accident and find those responsible. According to the passenger list made available to the authorities, South Korean and Hungarian citizens were involved in the accident”, the statement reads.

On Wednesday evening at least seven people died when two ships collided on the Danube near Margaret Bridge and one of the ships sank. Seven people were lightly injured in the accident and have been taken to hospital showing signs of hypothermia. 33 South Korean tourists and a crew of two were aboard the ship that sank.

(MTI)