Down: An anchor handling boat like this one sunk off the coast of Qatar.
Support boat sinks off Qatar
Nearly thirty people are feared dead after an offshore support vessel capsized and sank off Qatar.
Five people were rescued and one body recovered after the 5750-horsepower anchor-handling tug supply (AHTS) unit Damas Victory went down two miles off Doha early yesterday, according to Upstream sister publication Tradewinds.
There were 35 people in total on the St Vincent & Grenadines-flagged vessel meaning 29 are feared drowned, the Gulf Times reported.
Twenty four of those onboard worked for the same company, HBK Power Cleaning, with two other workers and nine crew making up the 35.
All those onboard were from India, Nepal and Bangladesh, the newspaper reported.
Three of the five people who were rescued and taken to hospital with minor injuries are Indian nationals.
Wind speed at the time of the incident at around 06:30 local time on yesterday was said to be between 15 and 25 knots.
The Equasis database lists the ship’s owner as Damas Marine of Dubai but its manager as Damas Oil & Marine Services of Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
Equasis also states that the Damas Victory’s ABS classification certificate was only reinstated on 25 May this year after being withdrawn due to an overdue survey.
The ship has P&I cover with the Shipowners’ Mutual.