Two missing as cruise ship sinks off Santorini

Two French passengers were reported missing following the sinking of Louis Cruise Lines’ ship Sea Diamond.

The vessel with 1,154 mainly American passengers and 391 crew, ran aground off Santorini and subsequently sank.

The passengers were initially all reported to be safely evacuated in three hours with no injuries, the ship towed off the rocks, and its list stabilized.

Later, it was reported that two French passengers were missing as the ship went down.

The unnamed captain speaking on Greek TV denied responsibility for the incident, blaming strong sea currents for the disaster. 

One eyetwitness, Ben Kucenko, a telecoms technician from Geelong, Australia, told the Associated Press news agency he was in the bar with friends when he heard the sound of rocks piercing the ship.

“People where nervous, women were screaming and it was a struggle to get to a life jacket,” he said. “We were scared the boat was going to tip over, we could barely walk.”

The large amount of water taken on board led to the cruise ship sinking in the early morning of April 6 in water around 200 metres (656 feet) deep.

Video footage showed that the ship completely inverted before settling stern first onto the sea floor.

In order to avoid an oil spill, plans have been made to recover around 450 metric tonnes of fuel from the ship’s tanks.

Greek authorities announced that they were charging the captain and five other officers with negligence and state television reported they were charged with causing a shipwreck through negligence, breaching international shipping safety regulations and polluting the environment.

All six were released until further notice but if convicted they could face a five-year prison sentence.

Minor injuries were reported to have only affected four passengers, however the two passengers still missing were named as French passengers, Jean Christophe Allain, aged 45, and his daughter Maud, 16.

Sea Diamond, the former “Birka Princess”, was built in Finland in 1986 and underwent an extensive refurbishment in 1999 and had been sailing for Louis under the Greek flag for the past year.

Cyrpus-based Louis Hellenic Cruises announced that the Sea Diamond will be replaced by another ship from their fleet, with all tours operating as scheduled.

Sea Diamond was on a seven-day Greek islands cruise from Pireaus.

Authorities on Santorini announced plans to sue the ship’s owners, fearing a serious blow to the local tourist economy from oil pollution. Regional governor Chrysanthos Roussos said: “We feel it is our obligation to take legal action. We need to ensure that the ship’s owners take responsibility for the clean-up operation”.

The Greek Merchant Marine Ministry said that the location of the shipwreck complicates both efforts to drain the ship’s fuel tanks, and the search for the two French tourists believed to have been trapped on board during the accident, adding: “Divers cannot be used in these conditions and special deep-sea machinery needs to be brought in.”

Though the local authorities insist Santorini’s pristine beaches are located far from the shipwreck and are not threatened by oil slicks, anti-pollution ships and an aircraft have been operating on the site since Thursday, with a local fisherman saying: “This is an unheard-of situation for our island.”

Louis Hellenic Cruise Lines, said the refitted Sea Diamond was “ultra-modern” and had recently undergone an inspection.

A company statement said: “MV Sea Diamond scraped its side on a reef outside the island of Santorini and sank during the early morning hours of April 6. All passengers, with the exception of two previously announced French nationals, were safely evacuated from the cruise ship.

“Louis Hellenic Cruises continues to co-operate closely with the relevant authorities in Greece and is committed to fully investigating the causes of this accident.” 

By TravelMole reporters