17 Indian sailors rescued after dhow capsize

Manama: Rescue workers managed to save all 17 Indian sailors after their dhow capsized off the coast of Bahrain in the Gulf waters, an interior ministry official here said on Friday.

Narendra Shial, a Dubai-based businessman and the owner of the Indian flagged vessel named Siddnath said that Bahrain coast guard airlifted the 17 crew members to the hospital and that they were all safe.

"Coast guard spotted the crew members ... floating in the sea," Shial said.

He said the vessel was carrying 1000 metric tonnes of rice to Khor Zubair, a port in southern Iraq.

The vessel left the port city of Mundra in northwestern India eight days ago.

Bahrain received a distress signal from the vessel at around 7 am local time, but it was not clear what trouble the dhow had encountered, the Manama interior ministry official said, declining to give his name because he was not authorised to talk to the media.

He added it was likely bad weather on the dhow's route.
The rescued sailors were taken to the emergency ward at the Salamaniyah Hospital in Manama, the Bahraini capital.

The chief of the emergency unit, physician Jassem Al Mehza said seven of the sailors were promptly released and that none of those remaining in hospital were in critical condition.

Dhows are ancient sailboats used in the Gulf.