TWO FRENCH tourists have been reported missing after the evacuation of some 1,600 people from the Greek cruise ship that ran aground and eventually sank off the coast of the island of Santorini on Thursday.
Earlier reports stated that all passengers and crew had evacuated the vessel safely after the Greek registered Sea Diamond, run by Louis Cruise Lines, suffered a hull breach after striking a reef in the Greek island’s volcanic lagoon.
“We are still searching for two people, a 45-year-old Frenchman and his 16-year-old daughter,” a Greek Merchant Marine Ministry official told Reuters yesterday.
The missing are reported as Jean-Christophe Allain, and his daughter Maud.
Tourism Minister Fanny Palli Petralia said she had spoken with the missing passenger’s wife.
“These are very tragic circumstances,” Petralia said. “The lady said her cabin filled with water when the ship struck rocks and that she narrowly escaped. She was not sure whether her husband and daughter made it out because things happened so suddenly. Her other child was up on deck and was evacuated safely.”
The missing French pair were in a four-berth cabin when the vessel struck a reef.
According to an official from Louis Cruise Lines, the rescue operation was taken on with the help of many other Greek navy vessels, resulting in passengers being evacuated from all different sides of the ship.
“After the operation the situation was chaotic, making it impossible for a proper passenger registration to take place,” Louis Spokesman Michalis Maratheftis told the Cyprus Mail. “After that, the French tour leader informed us that two members of his group were missing,” he added.
At the time, Greek Merchant Marine Minister Manolis Kefaloyannis had praised the rescue operation as “splendid” on all counts.
“There was not even a nose bleed,” he told private TV station Antenna.
Louis announced that the ship sank yesterday, some 15 hours after it began listing heavily.
The sinking of the 22,412-tonne cruiser caused a small oil slick that was being cleared up by coastguard crews.
“Private vessels are also expected in the area to pump the remaining fuel out of the vessel,” Merchant Marine Ministry Spokesman Andreas Theofilou said.
There had been conflicting reports over the exact number of passengers on board the vessel, with the final number set at 1,153 from the Ministry. There was also a crew of 391 aboard the ship.
The majority of passengers on board were from the United States, but there were other foreign nationals on board including a number of Germans, Spaniards, French, Britons and Australians.
Many of the passengers had been taken to the port of Piraeus yesterday morning in a chartered ferry sent by the company and have already flown home after having embarked on a five-day island cruise from Greece’s main port on Monday. It was expected that the rest of the people on board were to be taken to Athens yesterday, having spent Thursday night accommodated in hotels in the holiday island.
The company has said it would be launching an investigation into the incident while Greek authorities said that the people responsible would be severely punished.
