PTI
Manama, Mar 31: At least 57 persons, including 13 Indians, met a watery grave when a boat carrying 150 persons on a dinner cruise sank off Bahrain coast.
A Bahraini Interior Ministry official said 63 persons had been rescued and 12 of them sustained injuries when the boat overturned around one km from the Shaikh Khalifa Causeway, which links Mina Salman and Muharraq, on Thursday night. Rescue operations were still continuing.
The boat was overloaded and its Indian captain had initially refused to put to sea, its owner Al Qobaisi said.
Qobaisi said the boat had the capacity for only 100 people. "When the captain saw so many people were boarding and so much stock was being taken on board for the party, he did not want to put out, but organisers insisted," he said.
Information Minister Mohammad Abdul-Ghaffar Abdullad told Al Arabiya television that around 25 Britons, 20 Filipinos, 10 South Africans and 10 Egyptians were among those onboard.
According to preliminary information, the passengers worked for the same company and were on an evening dinner cruise when the mishap took place.
The trip was organized by the Nass group to celebrate the completion of the concrete structure of the Bahrain World Trade Centre Towers. An inquiry has been ordered into the incident.