Recovery of ship begins off Doha coast

ABU DHABI // A salvage team yesterday began recovering the UAE-registered ship that sank last week with 35 people on board. The Demas Victory, a utility vessel registered in Dubai, capsized in heavy winds about 10 nautical miles off the coast of Doha on Tuesday morning. Twelve bodies were recovered on Friday, bringing the total retrieved to 19. Five survivors, including the captain, have been rescued.

The crew was made up of 19 Indians, 12 Nepalis, three Indonesians and a Bangladeshi. Juma Mubarak, the managing director of Mubarak Marine, the Dubai salvation and towing company that was given the contract to recover the vessel, said more than 50 of his staff started the recovery at 5am yesterday. "We expect to recover the vessel by Sunday," he said. "It would be the fastest way of retrieving the bodies."

He said his team was using three tugboats and a floating crane in its salvage operations, as well as specialist divers. However, he said his company would not break open the vessel to remove the bodies. Meanwhile, divers from the coastguard and Qatar Petroleum continued to search for the missing crew. George Mathew, the general manager of the Midgulf Offshore Ship Chartering in Dubai, the vessel's operator, had earlier said the 34-metre Demas Victory was in "perfect condition" after being fully serviced in Dubai in January.

He said it was the first accident in the history of the company, which was founded in 2003. rruiz@thenational.ae