Posted on 04/08/2007 3:18:49 PM PDT by Dacb
Greek authorities have announced plans to sue the owners of a Greek cruise ship that sank near the island of Santorini, fearing a serious blow to the booming local tourist economy from oil pollution.
"We feel it is our obligation to take legal action," said the island's Governor, Chrysanthos Roussos.
"We need to ensure that the ship's owners take responsibility for the clean-up operation."
The Greek-flagged Sea Diamond hit a charted reef near the tiny island port on Thursday (local time) and sank at dawn on Friday in the bay of Athinio, descending to a depth of between 90 and 140 metres.
The location of the shipwreck complicates both efforts to drain the ship's fuel tanks and the search for two French tourists, believed to have been trapped on board during the accident when the Sea Diamond listed and its water-tight doors began closing.
"Divers cannot be used in these conditions, special deep-sea machinery needs to be brought in," a ministry press officer said.
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.
"This is an unheard of situation for our island," a local fisherman said.
The ministry said an oil slick 100 metres wide that appeared on Thursday has already been removed.
"We are told that the situation is under control," Mr Roussos said.
On Saturday, the Sea Diamond's captain and five officers were charged with causing a shipwreck through negligence, breaching international shipping safety regulations and polluting the environment, a Greek judicial official said.
As the charges are at misdemeanour level and carry a maximum sentence of five years, the unnamed suspects were subsequently released pending further investigation.
The captain faces more questioning over the fate of the two missing tourists and more charges could be forthcoming.
One of Greece's top tourist destinations, Santorini is visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists every year.
Good grief, they just had a wreck with human beings. Now someone wants to sue them for pollution. Some people are just plain crazy. Of course, after their passengers get finished with them, there may not be anything left.
Here's the answer to one question we had.
Lloyd’s of London or some other insurance company will take the hit,I don’t know why these people are getting upset.
Did the captain take a drug/alcohol test? Was the captain in his cabin or someone else's cabin? This whole deal looks odd.
I hope they get their priorities straight. Which is the greatest pollution threat?
If it was coming into the port, it was on the interior of the caldera - on the west side of Santorini.
There is a new volcano growing in the middle of the caldera, it is well above water line, but it is still a couple of miles from the rim of the original island which is now Santorini.
I can’t remember the name of the island that is the western rim, there are gaps in the rim of the ancient island on the north and southwest - Santorini is the east and southern portions of the old rim.
Fantastic place......
Works out to between 292 and 455 feet. Probably lying stern down slope and upside down.
why wasnt this vessel towed to the shallows?
I just don’t understand how this can happen with modern navigation.
Searching for the missing persons is really a matter of the company keeping faith with the family and passengers to do all it can to account for and/or recover any missing persons. Being organic, bacteria and bottom feeders will consume the bodies in a fairly short period if they are not recovered first.
The oil is a different matter. The ship’s fuel tanks are probably filled with thousands, if not tens of thousands of fuel (probably DFM) and there are other pollutants (like transformer cooling oils and lubricants) that, if allowed to leak out, could contaminate the sea for decades. Bad for the environment and bad for tourism.
BTW, the reason the beaches are not in danger is because they are all on the outside of the caldera's ring wall well away from the ship wreck.
I have read in another report (link below), that the captain is blaming strong currents for pushing the ship off course onto the reef.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.