Gulf | Bahrain
Boat's captain detained
The captain of a boat that capsized one kilometre off the Bahrain coast, killing at least 57 people, is being held by police for questioning.
- Agencies
- Published: 00:00 April 1, 2006
The captain of a boat that capsized one kilometre off the Bahrain coast, killing at least 57 people, is being held by police for questioning.
Although overcrowding is thought to be the cause of the accident, the captain of the dinner-cruise boat and his assistant are being held with Bahraini prosecutors alleging that they were not properly qualified to be operating the vessel.
"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 a news conference.
"Initially charges against him are linked to his responsibility (for the accident)," Hamza said.
Abdullah Al Qubaisi, from the Al Dana Company who owns the boat, said tour operators had insisted on setting sail even though there were too many people on board the boat which was only allowed to carry 100 passengers.
"They loaded the boat with more than its capacity. The captain refused to sail but they forced him to leave," Mr Qubaisi said, referring to a local tour company which had arranged the dinner-cruise for the employees of a construction company.
The 88-foot long, 23-foot wide ship was carrying a party of 137 when it capsized on Thursday at 9.45pm.
According to authorities, 140 were initially on the boat, but 14 disembarked before it set out to sea.
The passengers were mostly foreigners from construction company Nass-Murray and Roberts who were celebrating the completion of the construction of the World Trade Centre on Manama's waterfront.
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