Post by ferryfast admin on Mar 30, 2006 23:51:36 GMT -5
Rescue underway after ferry capsizes off Bahrain
Updated Thu. Mar. 30 2006 11:28 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Rescue efforts are underway after a tourists ferry carrying up to 150 people capsized in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Bahrain late Thursday. At least 48 bodies were recovered.
Coast guard chief Youssef al-Katem said at least 63 people survived.
Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Mohammed Ben Dayna said those who survived included foreign tourists and expatriate workers living in Bahrain.
The vessel overturned at about 9:45 p.m. local time near the Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman bridge, which links the capital Manama with the smaller Al-Muharraq island, Coast Guard chief Colonel Yussef al-Ghatim told AFP.
Dayna said it was too early to speculate on why the ship capsized in what appeared to be ideal weather conditions.
However, the ferry's owners said overloading could have caused the ferry to capsize, according to Bahrain television.
A passenger on board the ferry calling from his cell phone was the first to alert officials that the ship was listing, al-Katem said.
Survivor Khalil Mirza of Bahrain told The Associated Press that he was the passenger who made that call. He said the listing began while the vessel was turning left.
"People were scared in the water," he said. "They were fighting with each other and screaming."
The ship, which is believed to be named "Banoosh," had taken tourists out for an evening tour of the Gulf that was to last several hours when it overturned less than two kilometres from the coast, the official Bahrain News Agency reported.
The passengers on board were thought to be a mix of locals, other Gulf Arab nationals and Westerners, most of them employees at a Bahrain-based company.
According to unconfirmed reports, the passengers included Indians, South Africans, Britons, Filipinos, Egyptians.
Cmdr. Jeff Breslau, a spokesman for the Bahrain-based Navy 5th fleet, told The Associated Press the U.S. military was aiding the rescue effort. The Navy has had a presence in Bahrain for more than 50 years.
"We're sending divers, small boats and a helicopter right now," Breslau said.
The vessel capsized about two months after an Egyptian ferry sank in the Red Sea, killing about 1,000 people.
The Al-Salaam Boccaccio 98 was en route from the Saudi port of Dubah to the Egyptian port of Safaga when it went down some 64 kilometres from the Egyptian port of Hurghada.
Bahrain is an oil-exporting and refining archipelago of 688,000 off the coast of Saudi Arabia.
Updated Thu. Mar. 30 2006 11:28 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Rescue efforts are underway after a tourists ferry carrying up to 150 people capsized in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Bahrain late Thursday. At least 48 bodies were recovered.
Coast guard chief Youssef al-Katem said at least 63 people survived.
Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Mohammed Ben Dayna said those who survived included foreign tourists and expatriate workers living in Bahrain.
The vessel overturned at about 9:45 p.m. local time near the Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman bridge, which links the capital Manama with the smaller Al-Muharraq island, Coast Guard chief Colonel Yussef al-Ghatim told AFP.
Dayna said it was too early to speculate on why the ship capsized in what appeared to be ideal weather conditions.
However, the ferry's owners said overloading could have caused the ferry to capsize, according to Bahrain television.
A passenger on board the ferry calling from his cell phone was the first to alert officials that the ship was listing, al-Katem said.
Survivor Khalil Mirza of Bahrain told The Associated Press that he was the passenger who made that call. He said the listing began while the vessel was turning left.
"People were scared in the water," he said. "They were fighting with each other and screaming."
The ship, which is believed to be named "Banoosh," had taken tourists out for an evening tour of the Gulf that was to last several hours when it overturned less than two kilometres from the coast, the official Bahrain News Agency reported.
The passengers on board were thought to be a mix of locals, other Gulf Arab nationals and Westerners, most of them employees at a Bahrain-based company.
According to unconfirmed reports, the passengers included Indians, South Africans, Britons, Filipinos, Egyptians.
Cmdr. Jeff Breslau, a spokesman for the Bahrain-based Navy 5th fleet, told The Associated Press the U.S. military was aiding the rescue effort. The Navy has had a presence in Bahrain for more than 50 years.
"We're sending divers, small boats and a helicopter right now," Breslau said.
The vessel capsized about two months after an Egyptian ferry sank in the Red Sea, killing about 1,000 people.
The Al-Salaam Boccaccio 98 was en route from the Saudi port of Dubah to the Egyptian port of Safaga when it went down some 64 kilometres from the Egyptian port of Hurghada.
Bahrain is an oil-exporting and refining archipelago of 688,000 off the coast of Saudi Arabia.