The people who lost their loved ones in the 2019 Hableány tragedy, as well as the survivors of the ship collision, have indicated their mutual compensation claim, totaling 4.3 billion forint (EUR 12 million), reports tabloid Ripost. Furthermore, the daughter of the late captain of the Hableány ship has made a compensation claim of 35 million forint (EUR 98 thousand) to Panorama Deck, the employer of her father.
On May 29, 2019, the Viking Sigyn cruise ship collided with the sightseeing boat known as the Hableány (Mermaid) on the Danube River in Budapest. Only 7 of the 33 South Korean tourists on board survived the collision, and its crew of two Hungarians passed away as well.
Since then, the construction of a memorial has begun, while the Ukrainian captain held responsible for the collision, Jurij C., remains under criminal supervision, facing prison and a suspension of his boating license.
Those who have been impacted by the incident have called for compensation from Panorama Deck and Viking Cruises, equally distributed from the two companies.
Unfortunately, neither Viking cruises nor the insurer of the cruise ship have paid any money to anyone over the collision yet.
The lawyer of Panorama Deck, Zsolt Sógor, told the jury that if the claim is accepted, the company will most certainly go out of business. They already have to pay 6-700 million forint (EUR 16.7-20 thousand) in damages, and have had practically no customers since the incident, similarly to other tourist ships of the capital.
Many have been placing bouquets at the Margit Bridge site of the crash since the incident. Hopefully, the memorial of the victims, a 25-ton granite block engraved with the names of the victims, will be finished by the second anniversary of the tragedy.
Featured photo illustration by Noémi Bruzák/MTI
