Standby vessel Demas Victory sinks offshore Qatar
July 6, 2009
DOHA — Nearly 30 people could be dead after Demas Marine safety standby vessel Demas Victory sank in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Qatar on the morning of June 30, according to international press reports.
The vessel that sank was not Damas Oil & Marine Services anchor handling tug supply vessel Damas Victory, as stated in earlier reports.
The accident took place at approximately 6:30 a.m. local time, Qatar’s Ministry of the Interior said, as the standby vessel was returning to port in Doha during bad weather. George Mathew, the general manager of the ship’s operator, Midgulf Offshore Ship Chartering LLC, told the Associated Press that the ship’s captain had requested permission to enter the channel leading to Doha’s harbor, but was told to remain at an outer anchorage because of the rough conditions.
“At that time, a huge swell and strong wind hit him and the vessel was capsized,” Mathew said in an AP interview. “It completely sank in three minutes.”
Onboard the ship were nine crew members, 24 employees of the HBK Power Cleaning and two caterers working for a company hired by HBK, Mathew said. Three Indian and two Indonesian crew members have been rescued. They were on deck or in the wheelhouse at the time of the accident, Mathew told the AP.
HBK said its passengers consisted of 12 Nepalese, 11 Indians and one Bangladeshi, according to the AP report. The caterers were also Indian, the company said. Mathew said he feared those who are still missing were killed because they were unable to escape their sleeping cabins as the ship went down.
HBK Power Cleaning is a specialist company in the application of corrosion protection products to the surfaces of buildings and industrial plants.
