The tourist boat that sank in Hungary’s Danube River has been partially raised.

The vessel is scheduled to be entirely raised by around 5 p.m. Korea time.

The boat carrying South Korean tourists sank on May 29th after being hit by a larger cruise ship.

Authorities in Hungary including officials at the Counter Terrorism Centre began the salvage operation early Tuesday by using a huge floating crane.

The steering room of the sunken boat came into view just 26 minutes after the crane started moving to raise the boat out of the water.

As the steering room emerged from the water, two divers went in and retrieved what is assumed to be the body of the Hungarian captain of the boat.

Three bodies assumed to be that of South Koreans were also retrieved shortly after. 

Local authorities planned to lift up the boat in phases by about five centimeters at a time in order to prevent the loss of bodies that may be inside the vessel.

The salvage work, however, appears to be progressing faster than expected.

Before the salvage, 19 South Koreans and one Hungarian were confirmed dead while eight people remained missing. Only seven tourists aboard the ship are known to have survived the sinking.