US Navy helicopters and divers were trawling the Gulf on Friday, searching for survivors of a crowded pleasure boat that capsized off the coast of Bahrain, killing up to 57 people.
Scores of survivors, some still wearing dinner jackets and evening dress, were treated at the main hospital in the capital, Manama, as the authorities began piecing together what had caused the dhow, al-Dana, to sink. Amid reports that the boat was dangerously overcrowded with up to 150 people aboard, it emerged that the captain had initially refused to leave the port of Muharraq, in the north of the island, because there were too many people on board.
One survivor, Jai Kumar George, a 37-year-old engineer from India who has lived in Bahrain for six years, described how he was thrown into the water as the boat listed and capsized in seconds. But he was one of the lucky ones. Those trapped in the stricken vessel behind unbreakable glass windows rapidly suffocated.
"We crashed across the deck and straight into the water," George said. "We helped each other to reach the side of the boat. I saw people inside asking me to break the glass. I started to kick. I didn't have anything with me that I could use and the glass was not breaking. Most of the people suffocated and died inside."
Witnesses said they saw passengers struggling in the water and attempting to swim the mile to shore after the boat capsized about an hour-and-a-half into its two-hour round trip from the Marina club, Manama, on Thursday night.
An investigation began as several people described how they had decided not to go on the boat because it was overcrowded. Raymond Austin, 50, a British who works for a concrete company in Bahrain, chose not to board. He telephoned his daughter Rebecca at their home in Kent on Friday to tell her he was well.
David Pouponneau, harbor manager for the Marina club, said he watched as the dhow, which had capacity for 100 passengers, set sail at 8pm on Thursday.
"It was licensed for 100 but there were about 150 on board. Thursday night was a dinner cruise and was due to last a couple of hours. What is thought is that it capsized as it turned around to come back, but no one knows what happened, the weather was fine," he said.
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