Bulgarian border police completed the evacuation of 238 people — 186 passengers and 52 crew — from the Swiss-flagged cruise ship Viking Ullur after it ran aground on the Danube in northwestern Bulgaria, the country's interior ministry said.
The vessel ran aground late Monday at river kilometre 817, about 25 kilometres upstream from Vidin near the Serbian border. The interior ministry cited poor visibility and low Danube water levels caused by drought as the reasons for the incident. Several attempts to refloat the ship between Monday evening and Tuesday morning failed, prompting the evacuation effort that began late Tuesday afternoon.
The passengers were nationals of European Union countries. The Viking Ullur typically operates a route between Budapest and Romania. As of Tuesday, crews were still transferring passengers' luggage from the stranded vessel.