GREECE: Evacuated passengers return to Athens after Greek cruise ship sinks

Greek authorities searched for two French citizens missing after the evacuation of a Greek cruise ship that ran aground off the Aegean island of Santorini on Thursday (April 5) and later sank. A 45-year-old Frenchman and his 16-year-old daughter were missing from among 1,153 passengers safely evacuated from the Greek-registered Sea Diamond. The Merchant Marine Ministry said another Louis Cruise ship transported 296 passengers and 38 crew to the port of Piraeus on Friday (April 6). The rest of the passengers and the crew were transferred to Piraeus later in the day. Buses and taxis were waiting at the dockside in Piraeus and took them to hotels in Athens. All the passengers lost their belongings which went down with the ship. Some of the passengers had already returned home, while others were accommodated in hotels in the Greek capital. "No-one noticed what was going on, we really didn't notice anything. The only thing we noticed was the boat started to tilt, it was tilting like 10 degrees, 15 degrees and it started tilting more and more," rescued French tourist Marcus Labrunie said. "We were very very happy that so many people were able to get off the ship and that things have turned out the way that they did," another rescued tourist said. The 22,412-tonne Sea Diamond, run by Louis Cruise Lines, ran aground just minutes away from the shore of the picturesque volcanic island, one of Greece's most popular tourists destinations. It listed after taking on water and was evacuated within a few hours. Louis Cruise Lines said there were 730 Americans, 112 Spaniards, 100 French people and many other foreign nationals on board, including Germans, Britons and Australians, as well as 390 crew. AW/AD

ITN Source | April 7, 2007

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