Reallity hit me that instance.
The total count of the Singaporean victims numbered at 6 as on Apr 1 - Straits Times.
On board, I was told,was my friend's girlfriend (24 years old). Though not seperated in death was a minor comfort. But if all victims had survived, it will be the true consolation.
Any traveller, be it in their own country or overseas, we are at the mercy of the conditions on the land and its people. There can be no excuse to cordon this foolish behaviour in this case.
I had questioned again what is a loss of life to be meant to the living ?
It is a black hole of loss, dispair and grief, it comes with anger and it hates for the change.
Gross human oversight can not bring back the dead.
To me , this incident meant a loss of a friend that I knew for the past 6 years. A guy that I knew though my boy friend. A down to earth person.
To the parents of this friend, it is a loss of the child that they had brought up for the past 27 years, suddenly cut down from his prime of life.
I am angered and appalled at the lathargy of the Bahrain's system of the controling of the waterbased transport. Such gross oversight had done Bahrain a disfavour, a glaring stain on its reputation and the victims a disservice as they had entrusted their lives over to the owner of this boat.
However, I forgive, as there is no end for this loss, anger and hatred.
I , here pray for the safety of future travels as I had done before, In Jesus' Name, Amen.
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MANAMA, Bahrain — The construction executives from 16 countries were out on an evening cruise, celebrating their progress in building the 50-story, sail-shaped twin towers of Bahrain's World Trade Center.
Less than half a mile off the coast, some passengers crowded the dance floor on the upper deck of the 85-foot boat while others lingered at dinner on the deck below.
Suddenly, the boat, the Al-Dana, began a sharp turn and swayed. The passengers lost their balance and fell overboard as the craft turned over in the inky waters.
Bahraini authorities have declined to discuss the cause of the disaster, saying they would wait for results of an investigation ordered by Prime Minister Sheik Khalifah bin Salman Al Khalifah.
The Al-Dana was a modified version of the traditional dhow sailboat common throughout the Gulf. An official with the vessel's owner, Al Kobaisi Travel and Tours, said it was an old dhow recently refitted for dinner cruises. The Al-Dana is 85 feet long and 23 feet wide, according to the Bahraini coast guard.
The official said the vessel could carry a maximum of 150 people. Dinner is normally served while the vessel is docked, he said. Later, the ship routinely sails for two hours close to the shore. The official said the vessel had a small kitchen, and food served to passengers was cooked on shore.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MANAMA, April 1 (Reuters) - Rescue workers searched on Saturday for two missing passengers of a cruise boat that capsized off the coast of Bahrain, after at least 57 people, mostly foreigners, drowned, officials said.
A helicopter circled the clear sky and Bahraini navy ships were scouring the water for the missing after their twin-decked boat went down late on Thursday.
Families of 13 Britons who drowned were expected to arrive in Bahrain later in the day to claim the bodies, the British Embassy in Manama said.
"The main focus of the British Embassy today is to support the bereaved and assist employers in notifying next of kin," an embassy spokeswoman said.
"A rapid deployment team from London has arrived. It includes seven staff from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the Red Cross," she said.
Authorities detained and are questioning the boat's captain, an Indian, who they said was unqualified. The traditional wooden dhow was said to have been overloaded with passengers, who were aboard for a corporate party.
Officials earlier said 126 people were believed to have been on board. Tourism sources said the vessel had a capacity of 100.
"The captain was only a sailor and not qualified to operate the ship. The prosecutor's office has detained him and his assistant," prosecutor Nawaf Hamza told reporters on Friday.
"Initially charges against him are linked to his responsibility (for the accident)," Hamza said, adding that the ship was carrying more passengers than its capacity.
The boat's owner said the top-heavy vessel capsized when passengers gathered on one side, Al Arabiya television said.
The dead were: 21 Indians, 13 Britons, five South Africans, five Filipinos, four Singaporeans, four Pakistanis, two Thais, a German, an Irish citizen and a South Korean. Rescuers pulled 67 survivors from the water. More than 30 people were taken to hospital. Most have been discharged.
Egyptian Nasser Wahby told the Asharq al-Awsat newspaper he was on the boat's top deck. "We were surprised when the boat tipped as passengers gathered to one side," he said.
One woman from the Philippines survived by hanging on to a rope. "I wasn't able to jump and I cannot swim. I wasn't able to wear a lifejacket either because it all happened so fast," she told the daily.
The boat trip was for employees of companies involved in a major construction project in Bahrain and their families.
South African construction firm Murray & Roberts (MURJ.J: Quote, Profile, Research) said that excluding crew, around 120 people were on the dhow -- employees of the firm, its partner Nass (NASS.BH: Quote, Profile, Research) and subcontractors, and their families.
