Rescuers hunt for missing after Bahrain boat sinks

Manama, Apr 1: Rescue workers searched today for two missing passengers of a cruise boat that capsized off the coast of Bahrain, after at least 57 people, mostly foreigners, drowned, officials said.

They did not identify the nationalities of the missing but added rescuers were also trying to recover the twin-decked boat which went down late on Thursday.

Authorities had detained and were questioning the boat's captain, an Indian national, who they said was unqualified. The traditional wooden dhow was said to have been overloaded with passengers, who were aboard for a corporate party.

''The captain was only a sailor and not qualified to operate the ship. The prosecutor's office has detained him and his assistant,'' prosecutor Nawaf Hamza told reporters yesterday.

''Initially charges against him are linked to his responsibility (for the accident),'' Hamza said, adding that the ship was carrying more passengers than its capacity.

The boat's owner said the top-heavy vessel capsized when passengers gathered on one side, according to Al Arabiya television.

The dead were identified as 21 Indians, 13 Britons, five South Africans, five Filipinos, four Singaporeans, four Pakistanis, two Thais, a German, an Irish citizen and a South Korean, the Interior Ministry said.

Rescuers helped by the U S Navy's 5th Fleet pulled 67 survivors from the water. More than 30 people were taken to hospital. Most have been discharged.

Egyptian national Nasser Wahby told pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat that he was on the boat's top deck when it overturned. ''We were surprised when the boat tipped as passengers gathered to one side,'' he said.

One women from the Philippines survived by hanging on to a rope. ''I wasn't able to jump and I cannot swim. I wasn't able to wear a lifejacket either because it all happened so fast,'' she told Asharq al-Awsat.

Officials said 126 people were believed to have been on board. Tourism sources said the vessel had a capacity of 100.

The boat trip was for employees of companies involved in a construction project in Bahrain and their families.

South African construction firm Murray&Roberts, the leading firm in the project, said that excluding crew, around 120 people were on the dhow -- employees of the firm, its partner Nass and subcontractors, and their families.

Reuters

Related Stories