Bottle With Ferry Message Found

BRUSSELS — A bottle has been found on a beach in Belgium with a message inside that police think might have been written by victims of the Zeebrugge ferry disaster moments before their death.

An estimated 134 people died in the disaster on March 6 when the British Channel ferry, Herald of Free Enterprise, suddenly keeled off just after leaving the harbor for Dover, England.

Police in the coastal town of Knokke said the message, written in English, was found in an orange juice bottle washed up on the sand about three miles from the site of the capsized vessel, they said.

The message read: “We are trapped inside the ship. We are going to die.”

The police said it was signed by six people, but would not release the names.

They said it was not certain whether the message was a hoax or had really been written by some of the people who died in the disaster.

The bodies of three women victims of the ferry disaster were found Saturday on the beach at Zoutelande, about 10 miles from the scene of the accident, police said.

The discovery brings to 59 the number of bodies recovered. Seventy-five are still missing.