Several Britons among 57 killed as Bahrain cruise boat sinks
MIL/Agencies, Mar 31, 2006.
A cruise boat carrying up to 150 people capsized last night off the coast of Bahrain, killing at least 57 people including several Britons.
A Bahrain Interior Ministry official, Colonel Tarik al-Hassan,told Al-Jazeera television that 67 people were rescued.
He said that not all the identities of the 57 dead were known as many of them did not carry identification papers, adding that he exact number of passengers was not known because some left the boat before it sailed.
The official Bahrain News Agency said the boat had been on an evening cruise that was to last several hours. It overturned less than a mile off the coast, it added. Television footage showed the boat, al-Dana, capsized but not sunk, with rescue workers walking on its brown hull.
US helicopters and divers joined the rescue and recovery operation launched by Bahrain's Coast Guard. Bahrain, a tiny island nation on the western side of the Persian Gulf, is the home of the US 5th Fleet.
Full story: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article354848.ece
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