Athens, Greece – The captain of a cruise ship that sank off an Aegean Sea island, sending more than 1,500 passengers and crew members onto rescue boats, was charged Saturday with causing a shipwreck through negligence.
The 469-foot Sea Diamond sank into the sea after hitting a well-marked and charted reef Thursday, in fair weather, inside the Greek island of Santorini’s sea-filled volcanic crater.
The ship’s Greek captain also was charged with breaching international shipping safety regulations and polluting the environment, a Merchant Marine Ministry spokeswoman said. Another five officers were questioned, but the spokeswoman was unable to confirm a state TV report that they also had been charged. All six were set free but will provide new testimony later.
The ship had been minutes away from docking under the spectacular cliffs that make Santorini one of Greece’s top tourist destinations. It was carrying 1,154 tourists, most from the U.S., and 391 crew members. Dozens of American high school students were among the passengers.
The stricken vessel was evacuated in a three-hour operation, but Jean- Christophe Allain, 45, and his 16-year-old daughter, Maud, from Doue-la-Fontaine in western France were listed as missing, feared to have been trapped in their flooded lower-deck cabin.
A three-day search found no trace of them. Officials said a robot submarine would investigate the hulk, more than 330 feet under the water’s surface, this week.
The 21-year-old Sea Diamond sank at the end of a four-day cruise, which included visits to the islands of Mykonos, Rhodes, Patios and Crete, and to the Turkish resort of Kusadasi.
