Arrest warrants over Sea Diamond

GREEK AUTHORITIES have issued arrest warrants for the captain and members of the crew of the stricken Sea Diamond vessel because fuel from the sunken cruise ship has yet to be pumped from its tanks.

According to reports in the Greek newspaper Ethnos yesterday, the warrants were issued because the officials from the company did not comply with regulations and submit a plan for the removal of the fuel that remains in the ship.

The vessel sank off Santorini in April after hitting a well-mapped out reef just a few minutes from entering the picturesque island’s main port of Thiva and – despite alleged assurances by Louis Hellenic Cruises, the Cypriot based company which owns the ship, that the diesel would be removed – the fuel is still in the ship’s tanks.

Based on reports, up to 400 tonnes are still inside the ship which sank just one day after running aground. Locals as well as environmentalists fear that there is a possibility of the fuel leaking out and polluting the sea around the island at the height of the tourist season.

According to EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, if a country does not have the adequate resources to deal with such an event then it should call on other member states for assistance. Dimas said that such a demand was not made, while the local authorities are still awaiting for a plan to be submitted as well as a list of all the pollutants from the ship, 68 days after the incident.

Greek authorities had attributed the incident to human error while a Greek prosecutor charged the captain and six other crew members with negligence. If found guilty, the crew could face a suspended prison sentence.

Louis Cruise announced last month that it had acquired a new vessel to replace the Sea Diamond.
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The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.