THE THIEF OF BAD GAGS
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FERRY SINKSTourist ferry sinks in the Gulf
A ship carrying about 150 people, including foreign tourists, has sunk off the coast of Bahrain in the Gulf, local officials have said.
There were some casualties resulting from the incident, that happened late on Thursday as the ship made a short tour of the Gulf, they said.
US helicopters, divers and small naval craft were on their way to the scene to help with rescue operations.
Ambulances were heard rushing to the port from which the vessel had set off.
THERE ARE REPORTS COMING THROUGH THAT AT LEAST 40 BODIES HAVE BEEN RECOVERED
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THE THIEF OF BAD GAGS
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MANAMA (Reuters) - A passenger boat carrying some 150 tourists, including Westerners, was feared to have sunk off the coast of Bahrain in the Gulf on Thursday, and residents said more than 20 bodies were found.
The vessel was believed to have taken out the tourists for a short tour of the Gulf, a hospital source said.
"I saw what appeared to be about 25 bodies being carried off," said a resident, speaking by telephone from outside a port in the island state.
"There were about 150 on the ship. Many on board were rescued," a Bahraini official said. He declined to say how many may have died.
Ambulances could be heard rushing to another port from which the vessel had set off.
A U.S. Navy spokesman said divers and small Navy vessels were helping in the rescue operations.
"The first report we received was that a Dhow (traditional wooden boat) has capsized. We are preparing a helicopter to join the rescue," the spokesman said.
"There is no initial indication that this was an attack," he said. Pro-Western Bahrain hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet.
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THE THIEF OF BAD GAGS
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Ferry sinks off Bahrain coast
A ferry carrying up to 150 people has sunk off the coast of Bahrain, officials said.
The Foreign Office said the ferry was "likely" to have had British nationals on board.
The ferry was on an evening cruise that was to last several hours.
It overturned less than a mile off the coast, according to the Bahrain News Agency.
The passengers on board the vessel were thought to be a mix of Bahrainis, other Gulf Arab nationals and Westerners.
A US Navy spokesman in Bahrain said American helicopters and divers were headed to the site.
"We're sending divers, small boats and a helicopter right now," Commander Jeff Breslau said.
Bahrain Interior Ministry spokesman Major Mohammed Ben Dayna said more than 60 people had been rescued and taken to hospital.
"It's too early to say what caused the accident," he said.
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Silverpixie (Admin)
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Thanks for that, it must have been way down in the news index as I didn't see it.
What a tragedy, the people on board must have been so scared.
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waterford
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Absolutely shocking, I have done dinner cruises in NY something so simple and it costs you your life. Allegedly some people refused to board the boad because they reckon it was over crowded.
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THE THIEF OF BAD GAGS
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13 Britons die in Gulf disaster
Thirteen Britons were among those killed when a cruise ship capsized off Bahrain in the Gulf, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has confirmed.
The Bahrain government said 25 British nationals were among the 150 people on board the two-storey Arabic dhow.
At least 57 people are thought to have died and at least 63 people rescued.
Mr Straw said the British Embassy in Bahrain had moved quickly to help local authorities and that a rapid deployment team had been sent from London.
Unidentified bodies
Bahrain interior ministry spokesman Colonel Tarek al-Hassan said that, as well as the 13 Britons, there was also one Irish victim.
The dead also included 17 Indians, three Pakistanis, four South Africans, three Filipinos, four Singaporeans and one German person.
Six or seven bodies so far remain unidentified.
A Foreign Office spokesman said embassy staff were at the hospital where injured survivors were being taken as well as at the coastguard headquarters from where the rescue operation was being co-ordinated.
He said the boat capsized as it was returning to the port of Al Muharraq.
Nass, Murray and Roberts, the construction company which organised a party taking place on the boat, said four of its staff were confirmed dead with a further six unaccounted for.
Chief executive Brian Bruce said the firm had 25 employees in Bahrain including 11 Britons.
But it had no information on the nationalities of the dead, he added.
Safety fear
The boat turned over in calm seas not far from the shoreline during an evening dinner cruise.
Injured survivors were taken to the Salmaniya Medical Centre in the capital, Manama.
Raymond Austin, from Kent, was one of a number of British employees of concrete company Delmon Readymix, who disembarked before the boat set sail.
His daughter, Rebecca, 18, told BBC News he and two colleagues had decided to take the employees off the boat because the number of people aboard had made them fear for their safety.
The trip had been a planned celebration following the completion of a four-year building project, she added.
Mr Austin, 50, was "shaken up and distraught" after discovering the boat had sunk with 150 of the people he had spent four years working alongside still on board, his daughter told BBC News.
Interior Minister Sheik Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, speaking on Bahrain television, said most of the boat's passengers were employees of a Bahrain-based company.
US helicopters, divers and small naval craft were on their way to the scene to help with rescue operations.
Ambulances were heard rushing to the port from which the vessel had set off.
The boat capsized at about 2145 local time (1845 GMT), near one of the bridges linking Manama with al-Muharraq island, Bahrain's coastguard chief Yussef al-Ghatim told AFP news agency.
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