02.07.2009
As many as
30 people are feared dead after a ship capsized and quickly sank in
choppy Persian Gulf waters off the Qatari capital Doha, the vessel’s
operator said Wednesday.
The accident occurred at about 6:30 Tuesday
morning as the MV Demas Victory tried to return to port in bad weather,
said George Mathew, the general manager of the ship’s operator. The
ship provides support to offshore oil and gas platforms.
Mathew said
the ship’s captain had requested permission to enter the channel
leading to Doha’s harbor but was told to remain at an outer anchorage
because of the rough conditions.
“At that time, a huge swell and
strong wind hit him and the vessel was capsized,” Mathew said in an
interview. “It completely sank in three minutes.”
Mathew said the
ship was carrying 9 crew, along with 24 employees of the charterer HBK
Power Cleaning and two caterers working for a company hired by HBK.
Five
crew members — three Indians and two Indonesians — were rescued. They
were on deck or in the wheelhouse at the time of the accident, Mathew
said.
A spokesman for HBK, who spoke on condition of anonymity
because of the ensitivity of the situation, said five bodies had been
recovered by late Wednesday afternoon. He said three of the dead were
Nepalese and two were Indian.
Mathew said he feared those aboard who
are still missing were killed because they were unable to escape their
sleeping cabins as the ship went down.
Source: Arab Times