Bahrain death boat: Search goes on

[CaptainK]

Sunday, April 2, 2006; Posted: 8:50 a.m. EDT (12:50 GMT)


Bahraini rescue personnel search for bodies Saturday at the scene off the coast of Manama.

MANAMA, Bahrain -- Bahrain on Sunday recovered the body of an Indian man as it continued to search for an additional person believed to have been on board the pleasure cruiser that capsized off its shores last week.

A celebration Thursday by several companies involved in the construction of Bahrain's World Trade Center came to a tragic end when the small cruise boat they held their party on flipped over after making a sharp turn just off the coast of the capital, Manama.

The dead from the accident included 22 Indians and 15 Britons.

Col. Tariq al-Hassan, spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said the search found the Indian man some 7.5 miles from where the boat, the Al-Dana, had capsized.

One additional person, a Philippine woman, was still being sought.

He said 130 people were believed to have been on board the boat when the accident occurred. Of those, 71 survived, 58 died and one was missing.

The number of people officials initially said was on board when the boat capsized changed because several people who had dined on the vessel as it was docked disembarked before it set sail.

Investigators learned of the Phillippine woman's presence on the boat through interviews with survivors, Al-Hassan said.

The Interior Ministry said Saturday the boat's permit was only for use as a floating restaurant, not to go on passenger cruises. Also, the boat's captain, who has been detained for questioning, was not licensed to pilot the craft.

The capsizing struck a heavy blow to the top management of the South Africa-based construction firm Murray & Roberts Group and its partners working on the construction of the WTC -- a nearly completed complex of two 50-story skyscrapers in the shape of sails that are to be the tiny Gulf island nation's tallest buildings.