Bahrain death boat owner pleads innocence

The owner of a dinner cruise boat that capsized in late March, killing 58 people, has pleaded innocent to charges of involuntary manslaughter.

Irish construction worker Derek Cunningham and his Thai-born wife, Orathai, were among those killed in the accident. Mr Cunningham was working with Dublin-based firm Mercury Engineering in Bahrain at the time. The couple were survived by their two daughters, aged 11 and seven.

Bahrain’s criminal court has charged with involuntary manslaughter both the owner of the boat, Abdullah al-Kobaisi, a Bahraini, and the boat’s captain, Rajendrakumar Ramjibhai, an Indian national.

Al-Kobaisi pleaded innocent in Manama to the manslaughter charges during yesterday’s court session, the first in the case, but Ramjibhai has not yet entered a plea.

The Al-Dana, a traditional dhow vessel refitted as a pleasure boat, overturned in late March as it made a sharp turn with about 130 people on board just off the coast of Bahrain.

Most of those on board were from a South African-based company and its partners celebrating construction of Bahrain’s World Trade Centre. The dead were mostly Indians and Britons.

Al-Kobaisi and Ramjibhai were arrested shortly after the incident, but al-Kobaisi was released in late April after paying 3,000 Bahraini dinars bail (€9,000).

The court session was adjourned until July 1, after al-Kobaisi’s defence lawyer, Abdul Rahman Ghunaim, requested that the court reopen the investigation.

Prosecutors have accused al-Kobaisi of operating and modifying the dhow without a permit or without following safety regulations.

According to a statement prosecutors released in April, the boat’s captain and the party organiser contacted al-Kobaisi and warned him about the situation, but he ordered the boat to sail.

Prosecutors have said the captain and assistant did not have sailing licences.

Waters were calm as the Al-Dana began its cruise, survivors have said. But the boat began swaying even before setting sail, prompting organisers to ask some people to stay below deck to maintain the ship’s balance.

After the partygoers had eaten dinner, the boat turned to head back to shore, but listed sharply, sending people and chairs on the upper deck sliding into the water.

Then the boat overturned completely, trapping dozens below deck, survivors said.