Irishman may be caught up in Bahrain ship disaster

The Government is trying to establish whether there may be an Irish casualty from last night's pleasure boat disaster off the coast of Bahrain.

An Irishman is believed to have been on board an overloaded cruise ship that capsized and sank near the port of al Muharraq, killing at least 57 people.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said today that it was in contact with embassy officials in the Gulf, but could not confirm whether any Irish people were caught up in the tragedy.

The vessel was carrying around 150 people attending a party arranged by a construction firm to celebrate the completion of the towers at Bahrain's new World Trade Centre.

The owners of the ship say the captain did not want to take the vessel out to sea as it only had a capacity for 100 passengers.