Cruise ship evacuated off Greece

[Eugene]

Source: BBC News

Last Updated: Thursday, 5 April 2007, 16:13 GMT 17:13 UK

Cruise ship evacuated off Greece

An operation to evacuate up to 1,600 people from a stricken cruise ship
is under way off the coast of the Greek island of Santorini.

The Greek-flagged Sea Diamond issued a distress signal after running aground
and starting to take on water.

Passengers told the BBC they were taken from the ship on lifeboats. They said
the evacuation was proceeding calmly.

A flotilla of commercial ships plus six navy helicopters and various navy
vessels were assisting the rescue.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6530475.stm

[wakeme2008]

1. This is an OLD MY GOD cruise ship...

Royal Caribbean is noted for their small cabins but they have nothing on this ship. There was 1,600 people on this ship and it is only 22,000 tons. For non-cruisers a ship that holds 1,600 normally would be around 60,000 tons. The cabins look to be around 80 sq feet including bath. YIPES...

[spotbird]

2. Pack light.

It looks like a carpeted prison cell.

http://www.dolphin-hellas.gr/Cruises/Louis-cruises/Ships/cruise-vessel-Sea_Diamond.htm#shipcabins

[democrat in Tallahassee]

8. I think it's a ferry not a cruise ship: I took one just like it from

Athens to Crete.

[Eugene]

9. Here's the company's page for the Sea Diamond.

http://www.louiscruises.com/SD.html

The web site says that the Sea Diamond offers 4-day cruises.

See reply #2 for a photo of a cabin.

[saigon68]

4. Its NOT an Ex-RCCL Ship

Louis Cruise Lines recently purchased the Birka Princess and renamed her the Sea Diamond. Originally built in Finland in 1986, the Sea Diamond underwent a $26 million refurbishment in 1999 and all cabins have tastefully furnished interiors with ample closet space and en-suite facilities.

The Sea Diamond features three restaurants, several bars, a show lounge, a nightclub, gift shops and boutiques, a specially designed children's area, and an indoor swimming pool and spa cente

http://www.friendlyplanet.com/cruise-ships/louis-sea-diamond.html

[cliss]

3. Bad steering: I just read on Yahoo news,

that the cruise ship struck some rocks outside Greece.

Some rocks?

What is the problem here? Does the captain not have navigational charts? Especially with a big ship like this one, they probably have sonar which helps guide them through shallow areas.

This story makes no sense.:smoke:

[Ian David]

6. Well, it's not like people have been sailing ships around Greece for very long, is it? But still...

it could have been worse.

[0rganism]

5. English is a strange language -- why not say "Cruise ship evacuated onto Greece"?

or "Cruise ship evacuated into Greece" or just "Cruise ship evacuated to Greece"?

but let's be idiomatic for a moment, "off" is short for "off the coast of", right? But that's not accurate either! The whole reason the ship is being evacuated is because it's ON the coast of Greece.

oh well, at least the active word is "evacuated" and not "sank".

[Eugene]

7. All tourists, crew safely off listing Greek cruiser

Source: Reuters

All tourists, crew safely off listing Greek cruiser
05 Apr 2007 17:40:30 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Angeliki Koutantou

ATHENS, April 5 (Reuters) - Hundreds of foreign tourists, including many American
students, were safely evacuated from a Greek cruise ship that ran aground near the
Aegean island of Santorini on Thursday, authorities said.

In a few hours, all 1,153 passengers and most of 390 crew of the Greek-registered
Sea Diamond, which was listing after its hull was holed, were brought to shore.

"All passengers have been evacuated successfully, only a small number of crew remain
to control the situation," Mihalis Maratheftis, a spokesman for the Louis Cruise
Lines firm running the ship, told Reuters.

There were 730 Americans, 112 Spaniards, 100 French and many other nationalities
among the passengers, including Germans, Britons and Australians, the company said.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L05468308.htm

[Eugene]

10. 2 Missing After Greek Cruise Ship Sinks

Source: Associated Press

2 Missing After Greek Cruise Ship Sinks

The Associated Press
Friday, April 6, 2007; 6:14 AM

SANTORINI, Greece -- Two French passengers were reported missing Friday
following the rescue of nearly 1,600 people from a Greek cruise ship that
struck rocks and sank off this holiday island.

Authorities said two French passengers _ a 45 year-old man and his 16-year-old
daughter _ had still not been accounted for, and lists of rescued passengers
were being rechecked.

The Sea Diamond sank shortly before 7 a.m. Friday, 15 hours after the accident
occurred and the ship began listing and taking on water.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/06/AR2007040600369.html

[Eugene]

11. Capt., 5 Others Charged in Ship Sinking

Source: Associated Press

Capt., 5 Others Charged in Ship Sinking


Saturday April 7, 2007 2:46 PM

AP Photo LON805, LON806, XPG104

By NICHOLAS PAPHITIS

Associated Press Writer

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - The captain and five officers of a cruise ship that sank
off an Aegean Sea island were charged Saturday with negligence, state television
reported.

The six officers were charged with causing a shipwreck through negligence, breaching
international shipping safety regulations and polluting the environment, state NET said.
All were released pending further investigations.

-snip-

Nearly 1,600 people were retrieved from the sinking ship Thursday in a three-hour
rescue operation after the vessel foundered on a volcanic reef, but some passengers
complained of an insufficient supply of life vests, little guidance from crew members
and being forced into a steep climb down rope-ladders to safety.

Divers continued to search for a Frenchman and his daughter who disappeared after
their cabin flooded with water when the ship struck rocks.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6539878,00.html

[saigon68]

12. An old tradition of greek captains and crew being the first off

the sinking ship

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Yarmouth_Castle

The first ship on the scene was Finnpulp. The first of Yarmouth Castle's lifeboats, which was only half-full, rowed to the freighter. Captain Lehko was angered to find that only four of the people in the boat were passengers. The other 20 were crewmembers who fled at the first alarm, among them Captain Voutsinas. The four passengers were taken aboard the freighter. Voutsinas claimed that he had come to Finnpulp to request a radio distress call. Lehko turned Voutsinas and the crewmen back to Yarmouth Castle saying, "Go back and look for more survivors." The next two lifeboats launched from Yarmouth Castle contained only crew.

Eighty-seven people went down with the ship, and three of the rescued passengers later died at hospitals, bringing the final death toll to 90.

Yarmouth Castle fire was the worst disaster in North American waters since Noronic burned and sank in Toronto Harbor with the loss of up to 139 lives in 1949.

[saigon68]

13. MTS Oceanos August, 1991

MTS Oceanos was a French built and Greek owned cruise ship which sunk off the South Africa's eastern coast in August, 1991.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceanos


Realizing the fate of the ship, the crew fled in panic, neglecting to close the lower deck portholes, which is standard policy during emergency procedures. Passengers remained ignorant of the events taking place until they themselves witnessed the first signs of flooding in the lower decks. At this stage, eyewitness accounts reveal that many of the crew, including Captain Avranas, were already packed and ready to depart, seemingly unconcerned with the safety of the passengers.

The captain Yiannis Avranas was accused by the passengers of leaving hundreds behind with no one other than the ship's onboard entertainers to help them evacuate. Avranas claimed that he left the ship first in order to arrange for a rescue effort, and then supervised the rescue effort from a helicopter. Avranas was quoted in the New York Times as saying, "When I give the order abandon ship, it doesn't matter what time I leave. If some people want to stay, they can stay."

[Eugene]

14. Capt. of sunk cruise ship blames current

Source: Associated Press

Capt. of sunk cruise ship blames current

38 minutes ago

ATHENS, Greece - A cruise ship captain indicted on negligence charges
after his vessel sank in the Aegean Sea blamed strong currents for the
accident, state-run television reported Sunday.

Two French tourists have been missing since Thursday when the ship
struck rocks and eventually sank off the island of Santorini. All the
other people on board — 1,154 passengers and 391 crew, according
to operator Louis Cruise Lines — were rescued.

State-run NET television quoted from what it said were excerpts of
his deposition to a public prosecutor on the island of Naxos, blaming
currents off the volcanic island for the accident.

"I felt the ship, which had been on a normal course, slip to the right
because of sea currents," NET quoted him as saying. "I gave the
order for a full turn left. But there was not enough time for the ship
to respond."

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070408/ap_on_re_eu/greece_cruise_ship

[saigon68]

15. Down goes Frazier, Down goes Frazier

[Bicoastal]

16. Bad Timing--I'm working on a cruise ship THIS SUMMER!

Lucky thing it's a Carnival Cruise ship. Say what you will about them, but they do everything by the book--and they've never had a disaster like this one.