(MENAFN - Gulf Times) A Doha court has awarded QR200,000 each as compensation to the families of three Nepalis who were among the 30 workers killed when a ship sank off Doha coast more than two years ago.
Nepal ambassador Suryanath Mishra said yesterday the three families were the first to receive the compensation in the case which was filed by the embassy of Nepal on behalf of the families of 12 victims from the Himalayan country.
All 12 were employed by a contracting company on the ill-fated barge Damas Victory, which was deployed for duties at a rig some 40 nautical miles away from Doha.
The boat capsized in the morning of June 30, 2009 while returning to Doha, with more than 35 people on board. The tragedy claimed the lives of 30 people, including 14 Indian nationals. Among the other victims were the employees of the ship operators and a catering company.
Mishra told Gulf Times the embassy has started the process of remitting the money directly into the bank accounts of the families of the three victims in Nepal. He said cheques for the compensation have already been deposited with the embassy by the victims' employers.
The families of Mehdi Hussain Mia, Man Singh Khetri and Abbas Ahmed Syed have been informed about the compensation, he said.
The ambassador also said five more appeals for compensation in the same accident were likely to be settled by the Execution Court soon. The five cases related to Sethunath Yadav, Jaage Bahadur, Ghanshyam Sherki, Neelaram Paudal and Sankar Bisht.
Qatari woman lawyer Mona Abdurahman represented the families of the Nepali victims in the Execution Court.
Mishra said cases of four other victims from Nepal - Rishi Prasad Sharma, Rajeev Kumar Dutt, Tilak Bahadur and Banga Bahadur - are being heard by the Court of Appeals.
The ambassador said he had immense trust in Qatar's judicial system and hoped all the cases would be settled soon.
More than a month ago, some relatives of the Indian victims had sought their embassy's assistance to speed up the case. However, none of them has received any compensation.
A senior Indian embassy official said until the last working day before the Eid holidays , "we have not received any information about any compensation from the court."
Another mission official said the litigation over compensation has been going on between the employers of the victims and an insurance company.
