Dozens Die As Ferry Sinks Near Bahrain

A ferry carrying up to 150 people capsized Thursday night off the coast of Bahrain, killing at least 48 people, officials said.

Interior Minister Sheik Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, speaking on Bahrain television, said at least 44 bodies have been recovered and 52 people rescued, but Bahrain's Coast Guard chief, Youssef al-Katem, later revised the figures up in a news conference. He said 48 bodies have been recovered and that there were 63 survivors.

By early Friday morning, regional television stations put the death toll at 54.

The official Bahrain News Agency said the ferry was on an evening cruise that was to last several hours. It overturned less than a mile off the coast, it added.

Television footage showed the ferry, al-Dana, capsized but not sunk, with rescue workers walking on its brown hull.

U.S. helicopters and divers joined the rescue and recovery operation launched by Bahrain's Coast Guard. Bahrain, a tiny island nation on the western side of the Persian Gulf, is the home of the U.S. 5th Fleet.

TV images showed rescue workers taking bodies wrapped in white sheets off a small dinghy. Men carried the bodies away in blankets or on stretchers, while boats with flashing lights moved in and out of port.

Scores of officials and relatives waited in the harbor watching the rescue operation. Some helped the rescue workers.

Television footage also showed survivors, appearing in shock and their hair still wet, squatting on the floor of a hospital. Many of them covered themselves with blankets. One male survivor was shown being treated for head cuts.

Survivors hugged each other. Some had blood streaming down their faces. Several wept uncontrollably as friends and relatives tried to calm them.

Some survivors needed assistance as they disembarked from a rescue boat that brought them to shore.

"We were in a ship next to the ship which capsized," eyewitness Abd Ali Muhammad Hassan told the BBC Arabic service.

"We saw it leaning on its side quickly then it capsized and its lights turned off.

"We moved backward towards them and managed to save seven of the crew... The people we saved were foreign tourists, not Bahrainis," Mr. Hassan said.

Prime Minister Sheik Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa visited survivors in hospital.

There was no indication of what caused the ferry to capsize in what appeared to be perfect weather conditions in the area. The ferry's owners, according to Bahrain television, said overloading could have caused the ferry to capsize.

Al-Katem, the coast guard chief, said an investigation was underway.

However, terrorism was ruled out by a senior interior ministry official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media. "I rule it out 100 percent," said the official.

The passengers were thought to be a mix of Bahrainis, nationals of other Gulf Arab nations and Westerners. Health Minister Nada Haffadh told al-Arabiya television that survivors who arrived at hospitals included nationals of India, South Africa, Singapore and Britain.

She later told Bahrain television that a total of 24 people were hospitalized and that other survivors were released on arriving at the shore.

Information Minister Mohammed Abdul-Ghafar, interviewed on al-Arabiya, said the passengers included 25 Britons, 20 Filipinos, 10 South Africans and 10 Egyptians.

Sheik Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, the Interior Minister, said most of the ferry's passengers were employees of a Bahrain-based company.

"So far, the (rescue) operations continue. God Willing, there will be more survivors rescued," he said in a telephone interview aired on Bahraini television.

Al-Katem, the coast guard chief, said there were 150 guests at a dinner party aboard Al-Dana. The guests, he said, ate their dinner while the ferry was still docked and that up to 20 of them disembarked before it sailed.

He said the first word on the accident came from a survivor who alerted authorities from his mobile telephone saying the ferry suddenly listed.

Khalil Mirza, a Bahraini, told the AP early Friday that he made that call.

One of only three Bahrainis invited to the dinner party, Mirza said the ferry listed as it made a left turn soon after it left the harbor.

"People were scared in the water," he said. "They were fighting with each other and screaming."

The Bahrain agency said Bahrain's coast guard boats arrived at the site of the stricken vessel minutes after word of the accident arrived. It quoted Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Mohammed Ben Dayna as saying it was too early to establish what caused the ferry to capsize.

A U.S. 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," Cmdr. Jeff Breslau told the AP.

A pair of helicopters could be seen from the shore flying low over the site of the stricken ferry. Rescue teams on small boats could also be seen using flash lights to help them search for survivors in the night.