Hungarian authorities announced they had found no evidence of alcohol or drug abuse by the Captain of the cruise ship ‘Viking Sigyn’ that hit and sank a small tourist vessel last month, causing one of the most fatal maritime incidents on Danube River in the last century.
On the evening hours of 29th May, the 27-meter double-decker tourist ship ‘Hableány’ (Mermaid) was on a tourist cruise on Danube with a total of 35 people onboard, when it was hit by the 135-meter luxury cruiser ‘Viking Sigyn’ and sank in seconds. A total of 28 people died and only seven people were rescued.
Shortly after, the Hungarian court ordered arrest of the 64-year-old Ukrainian captain of the cruise vessel on suspicion of criminal misconduct, but he was released on a 15 million forint ($52,000) bail, two weeks after the collision.
We launched the investigation as soon as we got on board (the Sigyn). As a first step we took samples from the captain. He had not consumed alcohol, nor taken drugs,
…Budapest police spokesman Soma Csecsi was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Police are also looking into whether fatigue affected somehow the captain, he added, without providing conclusions.
The lawyers of the Captain have said he is devastated but did nothing wrong.
He now wears a location transmitter and is confined to Budapest, Reuters reported.
The investigation on what caused the incident is still ongoing, along with a search for the three remaining victims.
