Tourist ferry carrying more than 130 capsizes
March 31, 2006 
A ferry carrying more than 130 people capsized Thursday night off the coast of Bahrain, and at least 48 people drowned, officials said. Sixty-three people were rescued, NBC News reported, citing officials at a news conference.
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 said.
Officials said most of the ferry’s passengers were employees of a Bahrain-based company and were of several nationalities, including Bahraini, Egyptian, South African and British.
Television footage showed the ferry, al-Dana, capsized but did not sink, as earlier reports had said, with rescue workers walking on its brown hull.
Images showed emergency personnel 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.
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 under way.
via msnbc.
