Agencies
Doha, Jul 1: Some 29 people were missing after a vessel operated by a UAE-based group capsized about two nautical miles off Doha coast early yesterday, a spokesman for Qatar’s Ministry of Interior said.
According to official sources, five persons were rescued and one body was recovered while search for the remaining people continued late into the night.
Of the 35 people on board, 24 were employees of HBK Power Cleaning, a Doha-based company. The remaining comprised nine crew members and two employees of a catering company.
A spokesman for HBK said the “work vessel” that belonged to Dubai-based Demas Marine was used by his company to provide “support services” to the petroleum industry. “HBK hired the ship about three months ago,” he said.
“The tragedy occurred at 6.30am when the ship was carrying out its normal mission at the entrance of the Doha canal”, the Interior Ministry official said.
Giving details of the nationalities of their employees, the HBK official said 12 of them were Nepalis, 11 of them Indians and one Bangladeshi.
They all belonged to the “labourer class”, the official added. The ship has been completely sunk.
According to sources, five of the survivors were treated at Hamad Hospital for “minor” injuries. Those rescued were moved to their company’s accommodation later. Among the rescued were three Indian nationals. An Indian TV channel gave the names of two of the survivors as Jaison and Balakrishnan.
Though efforts were made to contact the rescued, their employers refused permission to meet them.
Sources said Hamad Hospital had received the body of a victim.
“The ship completely turned over,” the statement from the ministry said without giving any reason for the accident.
A Dubai source identified the ill-fated ship as Damas Victory, which was built in 1973.
Indian Ambassador Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa quoted official sources as saying that at least 19 Indians were on board the vessel when it went down. Others on board included Indonesians, Nepalis and Bangladeshis.
The envoy said the embassy had been in touch with Qatar Coastguards to learn about the latest developments.
The first report of the accident was received in Doha around 7am.
According to a source in Dubai, the ship belonged to Demas Marine, a group owned by George Mathew, an Indian national, who had been a Doha resident until a couple of years ago.
Sources said the Qatar Air Force joined the coastguards in the rescue and relief operations at the disaster site as soon as the reports of the tragedy came in. Helicopters of the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) were also used for initial rescue operations, a source said.
The local weather forecasting station said the wind speed varied between 15 and 25 knots at the time of the disaster. The Interior Ministry official said the rescue team has been continuing their operations in the choppy sea.
When contacted, Nepalese Ambassador Suryanath Mishra said the mission had no information about the tragedy and he heard about it for the first time from this newspaper.