The inquiry into the capsizing of a dinner party cruise vessel in Bahrain, in which 58 people, including five South Aricans, died, is likely to focus on the final minutes before the dhow set sail. Survivors said there were long discussions between the captain of the Dana and the tour operator before the vessel cast off.
One survivor, Simon Hill (44) a British manager at the construction company Nass-Murray & Roberts, who was thrown into the water with his wife, said the ship had been due to leave at 7.30pm. Before it set sail, 16 people disembarked because they felt ”uneasy”, Hill said. The boat had been unsteady at the jetty.
He said the tour company representative encouraged the remaining passengers to move downstairs to distribute their weight evenly around the boat. There was also a half hour delay in departure.
News of the concerns came as more of the Britons to die were named. Philip Moody, a manager at a civil engineering firm, was recognised as one of the heroes of the tragedy. He rescued his wife and another woman before perishing when he dived back under the water to save more people.
”Everybody here is remembering this man because he is a good man, you don’t often see a man in this world like that,” said a colleague of Moody, who gave his name only as Rajesh. ”He is forgetting about himself and he is trying to help somebody.” Moody’s wife, Alison, was on Sunday night thought to be in Bahrain caring for the couple’s two sons.
Scott Belch (33) a civil engineer, and his pregnant wife, Sandra (31) who was German, died. The couple had married in February. Jason Brett, who worked for an engineering company, was killed along with his wife, Lucinda Lamb. The couple reportedly leave two children. Irishman Derek Cunningham and his Thai wife, Orathai, were killed, leaving two young daughters.
Hill, whose company chartered the dhow to celebrate the completion of the Bahrain World Trade Centre twin towers, said the vessel had not been overcrowded. The firm had been told it was able to carry 200 people, and there were fewer than 130 left on board when it departed.
”We were still there at 7.50, and the people on the top deck were beginning to feel uneasy that we were not leaving,” he said. ”We went down to ask why we were not leaving.”
He saw a discussion between the tour company representative and the captain and, by telephone, someone who he thought was the owner of the ship.
”The final decision was not ours to go. We actually asked the captain if he was ready to go, and if he wasn’t we wouldn’t go. I don’t know who made the final decision … We asked were they happy to go and they didn’t respond.”
The boat sailed at 8pm. Hill said at that time the wind was light and there were no waves. When the vessel turned round to head for home at 9.45pm, it suddenly heeled over into the water.
”Suddenly and without warning the boat began to list to one side,” Hill said. ”We were thrown into the water … It happened so quickly.
”One minute we were talking and having a good time, and then in seconds it went very quickly. I saw people sliding down the boat to one side. There were people in the water and under the water … The people that were underneath didn’t get out.”
Bahraini interior ministry officials said the vessel, which sank on Thursday, was licensed only as a floating restaurant and should never have sailed. It was registered with the coastguard in December last year, but had not got the proper registration, insurance or structural certification.
The captain and the co-captain, who was injured, have been detained for questioning. Witnesses said it was not clear who made the final decision that the Dana should sail. So far 69 people are known to have survived and one remains missing.
Murray & Roberts Holdings on Friday afternoon released the names of the South Africans killed in the disaster. They were 47-year-old Chris Braysher, who was a commercial manager for the company; 59-year-old Jimmy Allen, design coordinator; Lawrence Sulman (39), project engineer; and Allan Jeppe (51), engineering surveyor. Cathy Judd (25), the partner of a Murray & Roberts project worker, was also killed. It was not clear whose partner she was. – Guardian Unlimited Â