Changes to Bahrain party boat contributed to fatal capsize: coroner

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2006

LONDON (AFP) — Inherent instability, poor safety equipment and an unqualified crew all contributed to the deaths of 58 people when a party boat capsized in Bahrain, a British coroner ruled. Fifteen Britons, including three with dual nationality, were among the dead, who were all foreign expatriates, when the Al-Dana overturned on the evening of March 30 this year.

Coroner Alison Thompson, sitting at West London Coroner's Court, held the inquest on nine Britons and one German whose bodies were brought back to Britain after the tragedy. She cited a report into the disaster by authorities on the small Gulf archipelago which found 19 safety deficiencies on the boat. The vessel had been "dramatically altered" with a superstructure built onto to the traditional wooden boat,...