M&R man was to become a father

2006-04-01 17:53

Johannesburg - The wife of one of the Murray and Roberts employees killed in a ferry disaster in Bahrain on Thursday, is five months' pregnant.

Murray and Roberts spokesperson Brian Bruce, said the woman's husband, Stephen Grady, 42, was a finishes manager on the World Trade Centre project in Bahrain.

He had joined the Murray and Roberts team on Bahrain four weeks ago.

Grady, who is British, also leaves behind a two-year-old son and a 16-year-old daughter.

Bruce said Grady's wife, Stephanie, described her husband as "loving, and a caring father".

Ten company employees died in the disaster. Murray and Roberts had hired the ferry to celebrate the part completion of a World Trade Centre building in the Gulf state.

The ferry sank about a kilometre off-shore. Five South Africans were killed in the accident.

Johannesburg-born Lawrence Shulman, 39, financially supported his elderly mother, Shirley, on a one-year contract with the construction company.

She described him to be the kind of person who "looked after and supported her".

Shulman is also survived by two sisters.

Alan Jeppe, 51, from Cape Town leaves behind his wife, Viki, two sons and a daughter.

Also among the South African dead are Chris Braysher, Jimmy Allen, and Cathy Judd.

Bruce said the company was "hoping to receive the bodies in South Africa within the next two weeks, because the families need to get closure".

He said: "We are working with the Bahrain authorities. It is a complex issue of legal processes.

"Not only do the bodies have to be legally released from Bahrain, but there has to be someone in the country its being flown to, to accept it."

- SAPA