Disaster boat 'not cleared for cruises'.

Byline: BY LIAM CHRISTOPHER Daily Post Correspondent

THE probe into how the Bahrain pleasure boat capsized and killed at least 57 people continued yesterday as it emerged that the vessel was not cleared for cruises.

The Arab dhow only had permission to act as a floating restaurant and should never have set sail, said interior ministry spokesman Colonel Tarik Al Hassan.

The vessel, which claimed 15 Britons among its victims, was licensed as a boat, not a pleasure cruiser, and an application for the correct licence was still being processed by the authorities, he said.

The dhow's captain was being questioned by the authorities, who said he was not licensed to take charge of the boat.

Most of the passengers were employees of construction firms that had chartered the cruise to celebrate completion of part of the massive Bahrain World Trade Centre towers project.

One Briton who perished died after rescuing his wife and another woman, then going back under the water to try and save more people.

Philip Moody, general manager with a firm called RMD Kwikform, made the ill-fated trip back to the underside of the stricken dhow but then did not surface, a colleague said.

The colleague, who would only give his name as Rajesh, said: "First he rescued his wife and another lady and then removed water from her stomach and then he went under and after that we don't know what happened.

"Everybody here is remembering this man because he is a good man, you don't often see a man in this world like that.

"He is forgetting about himself and he is trying to help somebody."

Mr Moody's wife, Alison, was last night still thought to be in Bahrain caring for the couple's two sons.

Among the British victims so far identified are couple Jason Brett and Lucinda Lamb.

Their two children were at home in Bahrain when the tragedy happened.

Mr Brett worked for engineering company Atkins, which also confirmed that another employee, Scott Belch, 33, and his German wife Sandy, had died in the accident. Mr and Mrs Belch had married just six weeks ago.

British colleagues Andrew Debrunner and Carl Ottewell also died.

Will Nolan was among four British senior managers with South African construction company Murray & Roberts who died.

The other three have been named by their employer as David Evans, 56, from Glasgow, Stephen Grady, 42, from Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire and Chris Braysher, 47. Mr Braysher had joint British and South African nationality.

CAPTION(S):

The pleasure boat which capsized off the coast of Bahrain, killing at least 57 people' Jason Brett and Lucinda Lamb