Two survivors of the Al Dana dhow disaster in Bahrain, which killed 58 people, will take to the stand in June to testify in an ongoing court battle for compensation.

They will appear before Bahrain's High Civil Court on June 6 to relive their experience of one of the worst tragedies in Bahrain's history.

A group of 46 survivors are still fighting for compensation more than five years after the vessel capsized off the coast of Muharraq during a party on March 30, 2006.

The case stalled when the court adjourned it three times to summon Indian captain Rajendra Kumar Ramjibhai to testify.

However, he is now in India after being released early from a three-year sentence for manslaughter in August 2008 and will no longer be called to appear.

'The case is now on the survivors' side,' said the lawyer representing survivors, Ahmed Al Arad. 'It is their chance to have their say now.'

Fifty-eight people died and 72 were injured when the Al Dana capsized during a Nass, Murray and Roberts party to celebrate the completion of concreting work at the Bahrain World Trade Centre.

The South African company had hired the dhow from Island Tours, which in turn leased it from the Abdulla Al Kobaisi Company for Travel and Tourism.

The dhow's Bahraini owner Abdulla Al Kobaisi was also convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to five years in jail, but was spared prison after offering to compensate survivors and victims' relatives.

An out-of-court settlement was reached between the dhow owner and some survivors.

It was claimed last April that compensation had been paid to 98 per cent of survivors and relatives of people who died in the tragedy.

However, the 46 survivors currently taking court action rejected the idea that Al Kobaisi could pay off survivors and victims' families without going to jail.

They include Bahrainis, Britons, South Africans, Indians, Pakistanis, Filipinos, Thais and Taiwanese, who rejected the initial offer and took the case to court.

They must now pick two survivors to be cross-questioned by the judge handling the case.

'All survivors should attend this hearing,' said Al Arad.

'This hearing is very important and will not be adjourned to another time.

'This is the date when they can speak for themselves.'

One survivor said he hoped the lengthy legal battle was now coming to an end, but said he feared otherwise. 'I really hope that this is the end of the story, but I know that it will keep going and there is nothing we can do except just wait,' said the Bahraini, who did not want to be named.

Another asked why witnesses were again being summoned to testify, four years after survivors' original statements were given to the court.

'We have already given our statements and our medical reports,' said the Indian, also on condition of anonymity.

'That surely is more than enough. The court has already received all the evidence and now we are being asked again.

'I don't know if they will agree to accept it now, this final evidence.

'Perhaps this is our last time, our one time for our say, but I think it will go back and forth for a long time.'-TradeArabia News Service