Nine days have passed since the tragic sinking of a sightseeing boat on the Danube River, boarded in Budapest by 33 South Korean passengers and two Hungarian crew members.<br />On Thursday, three more bodies were found along the river-- two South Korean passengers and one Hungarian crew member... raising the death toll to 19.<br />We're also learning that the captain of the cruise liner that collided into the tour boat was also involved in another boat collision in April.<br />Oh Soo-young has the details.<br /><br />Authorities have retrieved another body along the Danube River some five-point-eight kilometers downstream from the site where the Mermaid tourist boat capsized last week.<br />The body was discovered by locals,... and Seoul's response team in Budapest confirmed it was the body of a South Korean man in his sixties.<br />Less than two hours later,... another body was recovered some 40 kilometers down from the accident site,... at around eleven-thirty AM, local time.<br />Authorities identified the victim as a Korean woman in her thirties.<br />A third body was discovered in the evening about four kilometers down from the wreckage.<br />The victim was later confirmed to have been one of the two Hungarian crew members who had been on the ill-fated boat.<br />This brings the death toll to 18 South Koreans and one Hungarian,... out of the 35 people who boarded the Mermaid last Wednesday.<br />Only seven people survived the sinking.<br />Nine remain unaccounted for.<br />A floating crane has been standing by since Wednesday to salvage the wreckage.. but has not been able to reach the accident site due to unsafe water levels.<br />Korean authorities have told reporters they're considering other means such as floating boats to lift the wreckage.<br />While Korean authorities have not yet announced specific dates for funeral proceedings,... the authorities in Budapest have started issuing death certificates.<br />Observers say cremations are set to begin on Friday,... while bodies for burial are expected to be returned to Korea over the weekend.<br />In the meantime, investigations are ongoing over the larger cruise ship that collided with the boat carrying the South Korean tourists.<br />The captain of the bigger cruiser was found to have been involved in a crash a matter of weeks before the Danube sinking,... in the Netherlands in April,... according to the Hungarian prosecution.<br />The Ukrainian captain was formally arrested last weekend on charges of endangering water transport which led to the deadly sinking of the Mermaid.<br />Oh Soo-young, Arirang News.<br />
