‘Sea Diamond fully insured for loss’

THE OWNERS of the Sea Diamond cruise ship, which sank off a Greek island last week, said the vessel was fully insured and would have no immediate impact on company profits as the company’s shares fell sharply.

Shares in Cyprus company Louis Plc were down 13.7 per cent in early trade yesterday on the Cyprus bourse, the first day of trading since the disaster, which coincided with a long Easter break.

The 22,412 tonne Sea Diamond listed off Santorini on Friday morning after hitting a reef a day earlier. Two French nationals, a father and daughter among 1,156 passengers, are still missing.

Louis acquired the Sea Diamond in 2006 for $35 million. The group has another 12 vessels operating mainly in the Mediterranean.

Expressing regret at the incident, Louis said: “The vessel was fully insured and subsequently it is not expected its loss will have any immediate impact on company results.”

The company did not specify how much the Sea Diamond was insured for and its spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

Louis said the vessel was also insured in the event of pollution, now a worry for Greek authorities.

Special cleaning vessels have been battling an oil spill on the Santorini coastline, trying to pump the remaining fuel from the ship’s tanks to avoid an environmental disaster before the busy summer season goes into full swing.

Sea Diamond’s itinerary had been taken over by other vessels in the Louis fleet from April 9, the company said. (R)
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