Fishing boat owner found guilty in blast

The federal supreme court ordered a fishing boat owner to pay diya (blood money) to the relatives of two fishermen who were killed in a blast while filling the boat with petrol, press reports said on Monday.

A court had earlier acquitted the boat owner from responsibility for the accident but an appeals court found him guilty and ordered him to pay the legal Dh200,000 diya to the relatives of the two victims.

During appeals hearings at the federal supreme court, the owner rejected the charges and said the two were partially responsible for the accident. He asked court to reduce diya by 75 per cent.

But the court found him fully responsible for the blast because of his failure to provide proper maintenance to the boat, leading to a petrol leak. The court also fined the boat owner Dh1,000 for negligence.

Newspapers said another fisherman was injured in the blast that triggered a fire and destroyed the boat. They did not identify the fisherman and the victims but all fishing boat owners in the UAE are Emiratis and most fishermen are Asians.

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