Wichita Eagle Logo

Memorial held for Hungarian students drowned in boat crash | The Wichita Eagle

×
  • E-edition
  • Home
    • Customer Service
    • Archives
    • Buy Photos and Pages
    • Contact Us
    • Eagle+ Sign In
    • Mobile & Apps
    • Newsletters
    • Newspaper in Education
    • Subscribe
    • Subscriber Services
    • About Us

    • News
    • Crime & Courts
    • Local
    • Databases
    • Education
    • Lottery
    • Nation & World
    • Politics
    • Special Projects
    • Weather
    • Weird News
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Finger on the Weather
    • Prairie Politics
    • Sports
    • Wichita State
    • Varsity Kansas
    • Chiefs
    • K-State
    • Kansas
    • Outdoors
    • Royals
    • State Colleges
    • Wingnuts
    • NBC baseball
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Bob Lutz
    • Jayhawk Dispatch
    • K-Stated
    • Lutz Blog
    • Michael Pearce
    • Shockwaves
    • Politics
    • Elections
    • Business
    • Agribusiness
    • Aviation
    • Banking
    • Health Care
    • Small Business
    • Forward Wichita
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Air Capital Insider
    • Business Casual
    • Business Perspectives
    • Carrie Rengers
    • Living
    • Celebrations
    • Family
    • Fashion
    • Food & Drink
    • Health & Fitness
    • Home & Garden
    • Pets
    • Religion
    • Travel
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Suzanne Tobias
    • Entertainment
    • The Arts
    • Books
    • Celebrities
    • Comics
    • Games & Puzzles
    • Horoscopes
    • Restaurants
    • Events
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Dining with Denise
    • Movie Maniac
    • Keeper of the Plans
    • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters
    • Opinion Columns
    • Submit a Letter
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Richard Crowson
    • Kirk Seminoff's Pivot Point
  • Obituaries

    • Classifieds
    • Auctions/Estate Sales
    • Garage Sales
    • Jobs
    • Legal Notices
    • Merchandise
    • Pets
    • Service Directory
    • Place An Ad
    • Merchandise
    • Jobs
    • Cars
    • Homes
    • Apartments
    • Other Categories
    • Classified Support Center
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Cars
  • Homes
  • Mobile & Apps

National

Memorial held for Hungarian students drowned in boat crash

BY GEOFF MULVIHILL

    ORDER REPRINT →

July 11, 2010 12:00 AM

PHILADELPHIA — Friends silently and solemnly dropped white roses into the Delaware River on Saturday in memory of the two Hungarian students who died when the amphibious tourist boat they were riding was struck by a barge and sank.

City officials, religious leaders and Hungarian diplomats joined the group of grieving Hungarian exchange students at a memorial service dedicated to 20-year-old Szabolcs Prem and 16-year-old Dora Schwendtner, who drowned after the duck boat capsized Wednesday.

"The loss of a young life, of two young lives, is almost impossible to understand and almost impossible to accept," said Bela Szombati, the Hungarian ambassador to the United States. "We stand with you, we stand with the children, the young people."

At the end of the ceremony, wreaths and flowers were dropped into the river and two doves were released.

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to The Wichita Eagle

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

Both bodies were recovered from the river Friday and identified based on their personal effects, said Jeff Moran, spokesman for the Philadelphia medical examiner's office.

The two crew members and 33 other passengers on the duck boat were rescued from the river. Eleven of the survivors were Hungarian students. Two Hungarian teachers and seven Americans who were touring with them also survived.

The National Transportation Safety Board sent a team of 10 investigators to Philadelphia to piece together how the crash occurred. They say the duck boat's captain shut off the engine and dropped its anchor after smoke billowed from the vessel. The boat was stopped in the water for five to 10 minutes before the barge, being pushed by a tugboat, struck it. It capsized within seconds.

Among the issues to sort out: whether the tugboat crew heard distress calls that the duck boat crew says it made, and why an air horn on the smaller vessel apparently failed.

The NTSB, which said it would have no more briefings on its investigation, was conducting interviews Saturday with the five crew members of the tugboat.

Saturday, though, was a day of remembrance, with clergy offering prayers in English and Hungarian.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter apologized to the survivors on behalf of his city.

John Oostdyk, the director of the exchange program Atlantic Bridge, described the two victims as full of potential.

He said in an interview after the memorial service at the Independence Seaport Museum that he had gotten to know Prem over the past few years.

He described him as a shy young man a year out of high school who was emerging as a leader in the exchange program.

Several hundred people attended a candlelight vigil held Saturday night at the victims' high school in Hungary, state news reported.

  Comments  

Videos

Third graders shave their heads to support classmate with Alopecia

Upper Midwest roads go nearly invisible during ‘Arctic Blast’

View More Video

Trending Stories

Meet the man influencing state lawmakers across U.S. to file anti-gay, anti-porn bills

February 19, 2019 12:07 PM

K-State takeaways: Why Barry Brown is making a case for Big 12 Player of the Year

February 19, 2019 12:22 AM

19-year-old Wichita woman killed in Monday’s rollover crash

February 19, 2019 11:28 AM

Sub-state brackets: See the 2019 Kansas high school basketball postseason tournaments

February 19, 2019 11:15 PM

Wichita-area weather cancellations and postponements

February 19, 2019 04:18 PM

Read Next

The Latest: Smollett lawyers meeting with investigators

Celebrities

The Latest: Smollett lawyers meeting with investigators

The Associated Press

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 20, 2019 03:10 PM

A police official says lawyers for Jussie Smollett are meeting with prosecutors and police investigators about the reported attack on the "Empire" actor late last month.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to The Wichita Eagle

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE NATIONAL

Nation & World

APNewsBreak: Senator wants review of Guard assault policies

February 20, 2019 02:48 PM
Iconic ‘firefall’ returns — briefly — at Yosemite as sunlight turns waterfall blazing red

National

Iconic ‘firefall’ returns — briefly — at Yosemite as sunlight turns waterfall blazing red

February 20, 2019 02:42 PM
Man says he watched ‘Cops’ and decided it’d be fun to run from officers, Ark. police say

National

Man says he watched ‘Cops’ and decided it’d be fun to run from officers, Ark. police say

February 20, 2019 02:10 PM
Strawberries from Mexico packed with 900 pounds of ‘ice’ — the illegal kind, authorities say

Latest News

Strawberries from Mexico packed with 900 pounds of ‘ice’ — the illegal kind, authorities say

February 20, 2019 08:14 AM
Vandals tried to burn a Confederate statue in NC — but it was the wrong General Lee

National

Vandals tried to burn a Confederate statue in NC — but it was the wrong General Lee

February 20, 2019 11:01 AM
Thanks to this Hanoi barber, Donald Trump-Kim Jong Un summit already a hair-raiser

National

Thanks to this Hanoi barber, Donald Trump-Kim Jong Un summit already a hair-raiser

February 20, 2019 12:42 PM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
Advertising
  • Information
  • Digital Advertising
  • Rates
  • Place a Classified
  • Local Deals
Copyright
Commenting Policy
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story