Bahraini man guilty of manslaughter in patrol vessel accident

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

A Bahraini man was found guilty of manslaughter in connection with the death of a police officer during a patrol vessel accident last May. The Lower Criminal Court sentenced him to four years in prison.

Three other Asian men were implicated in the case but were sentenced to one month behind bars each. All the defendants were also fined BD1,000. The Asian men were on the shrimp fishing boat which barged into a patrol vessel, killing a policeman and injuring several others, as it attempted to avoid inspection by Bahraini Coast Guards.

The incident occurred in the early morning of May 6, 2021, when the Coast Guard crew noticed a boat sailing along a suspicious course in Bahraini waters. The crew contacted the boat and ordered them to stop, but the suspects made no response and continued their course. “When required to comply with the instruction, the boat changed its course without warning and rammed into the patrol vessel in an attempt to escape,” said the Interior Ministry in a statement.

The impact, the Ministry said, resulted in the martyrdom of a policeman and injuring two Coast Guard officers. “A policeman died and two injured when a boat crashed into a marine patrol while attempting to escape,” the Interior Ministry tweeted.

The injured coast guard officers were transferred to a nearby hospital by the national ambulance crew. The suspects then fled the scene and continued to the coast of Shahrakan. Coast guard officials later said they were intercepted and taken into custody.