A second major river cruise boat collision occurred on the River Danube on 5th October.
Five passengers were injured of which two were hospitalised on board the river cruise boat ‘Prinzessin Isabella’ when she collided with a cargo ship.
The incident occurred near the port of Ismail, Ukraine and involved the coastal freighter ‘Blue Star 1’, which was sailing upstream towards Galati, Romania.
The cruise boat carried proceeded to the nearest port. No pollution was reported.
‘Prinzessin Isabella’ suffered damage to upper deck cabins on the starboard side amidships.
She was crewed by Ukrainian and Slovakian nationals, according to local media and was chartered to a German tour company believed to be Phoenix Reizen.
Last June, the tourist boat ‘Hableany’ collided with the river cruise ship ‘Viking Sigyn’ in Budapest, sinking the smaller boat resulting in 28 fatalities.
The Viking Sigyn’s Master, identified as 64-year-old Ukrainian national Yuriy Chaplinsky, was arrested by Hungarian police on suspicion of ‘endangering waterborne traffic resulting in multiple deaths.’
