4 M&R staffers drown

2006-03-31 09:24

Johannesburg - Four Murray and Roberts staff are confirmed to have drowned after a ferry capsized in Bahrain on Thursday night, the company said in Johannesburg.

Another six employees were still unaccounted for. Fifteen were confirmed safe.

The company couldn't confirm the nationalities of the dead but would hold a press conference in Johannesburg at 11:00 on Friday to provide further details, a secretary said.

The company has 25 employees in Bahrain on the World Trade Centre Project.

Eight of them are South Africans, 11 are from the United Kingdom, one each from Bahrain and Pakistan and four from India.

A South African foreign affairs official said initial reports indicated that six South Africans were among the 57 dead.

Another seven South Africans were reported to be safe, Ronnie Mamoepa said. Foreign affairs officials were in the process of verifying the figures.

There had been 150 passengers on board.

"We are deeply shocked by this tragedy. Our sympathy and condolences go out to all those who have been affected," said Murray and Roberts group chief executive Brian Bruce. ,P>The company had established a crisis centre at its Johannesburg corporate office, which was supported by its offices in London and Dubai.

Management had been mobilised to Bahrain from Dubai, London and Johannesburg to assist.

AFP reported that the vessel's owner attributed the disaster to overloading.

The boat "has a capacity of 200 but it is allowed to carry only 100 passengers," Abdullah al-Qubaisi of the Al-Dana company said on Bahrain state television.

- SAPA