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Bahrain death toll rises to 57

2006-03-31 17:49

Manama - At least 57 people, including 13 Britons and 17 Indian nationals, drowned after a cruise ship capsized just off the Bahraini coast on Thursday night in calm waters, said the interior ministry.

Interior ministry spokesperson colonel Tarik al-Hassan said that 67 people were rescued and 13 were missing from the small ship, the Al-Dana.

It was not clear what caused the ship to capsize, but reports said that the boat's owners had said the ship might have been overloaded, and had overturned after most of the passengers moved to one side.

Al-Hassan declined to give a reason for the accident, saying there might be several factors that contributed to the capsizing. An investigation was under way.

Al-Hassan said the dead included 17 citizens of India and 13 from Britain. He listed the death toll from other nations as: Pakistan five, South Africa four, Philippines three, Singapore two, Germany one and Ireland one.

'Some people tried to swim'

The 11 remaining dead had not been identified. Al-Hassan said: "God willing, there will be other survivors."

According to al-Hassan, it was possible that some people tried to swim ashore as the Al-Dana capsized less than a mile off the coast, and that might account for some of the missing.

He said: "Search and rescue operations continue, and there is close cooperation with the American navy there." One of the survivors was an American.

United States Navy helicopters and divers took part in the search launched by the coast guard on Thursday night. Bahrain, a tiny island nation on the western side of the Persian Gulf, was the home of the US 5th Fleet.

Al-Hassan said the divers had not found anybody inside the overturned ship. He said the ship's captain, a non-Bahraini, had survived and was being interrogated.

Previously, it was reported that about 150 people were on board. The ship overturned while on an evening cruise that was to last several hours. State TV showed rescue workers walking on the brown hull of the small ship.

- AP

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