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57 die in boat tragedy

Atul Aneja

18 Indians among victims; Bahrain blames it on technical failure

DUBAI: At least 18 Indians were killed when a boat carrying 137 passengers capsized a short distance away from the shoreline in Manama, the capital of Bahrain. The passengers — mostly well-to-do corporate sector employees — were on a "dinner cruise" on board a traditional wooden leisure boat when the tragedy struck.

The cruise had been organised by a private company to celebrate the completion of the first phase of a construction project.

An estimated 57 persons died in the disaster, while 67 were rescued. Individuals from 16 nationalities including Britons, Americans, South Africans and Pakistanis were travelling on the 60-to-70-foot-long boat, called "Banoosh" in local parlance. The Bahraini authorities described the incident as an "accident", and have ruled out sabotage or terrorism as a possible cause.

Toll may rise

Among the dead, the maximum numbers are from India. The Indian embassy spokesman in Manama, R. Raghunathan, told The Hindu over telephone that the Indian casualty figure could rise as 10 bodies were yet to be identified.

The embassy was still in the process of compiling the list of Indians who were on board in order to ascertain the exact scale of the tragedy.

The dead include two women, identified as Nag Bhushan Pillai and Siru Arby, and an unspecified number of individuals could be missing, he said. Seventeen Indians were also injured, 14 of whom were discharged from hospital while three others were being treated for injuries. The Indians belonged to several private companies, and some worked in the "hospitality industry", Mr. Raghunathan said.

The owner of the boat, Abdullah al-Qubaisi, told Bahrain state television that the disaster was caused by overcrowding.

The boat has a capacity of 100 passengers, but at least 137 persons were on board at the start of the cruise.

Mr. Qubaisi said the captain, who is an Indian, and two assistants, who had survived, said that the boat overturned when too many passengers crowded up at one end. Most of the dead were on the lower deck where dinner was being served. Bahrain's Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah al-Khalifa, however, attributed the catastrophe to a technical failure.

"There must have been technical reasons that caused the accident" he told local television.

The accident happened on Thursday at about 9:45 p.m. (local time), less than 2 km south of a prominent bridge, which links Manama with the smaller Al-Muharraq island.

Eyewitnesses said that during the night, rescue teams brought bodies covered with white sheets to the shore, while survivors were wrapped in woollen blankets and taken to hospital. The U.S. Naval Forces' Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain participated in the rescue effort.

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