Cruise ship evacuated off Greek coast
Cruise Ship Job News: 5th April 2007
An evacuation operation is underway as a Cruise ship runs aground off the coast of Santorini, a Greek island, leaving up to 1,167 passengers and 391 crew to abandon the ship.
Cruise operator Louis Cruise Lines has announced that all passengers have been safely disembarked, with no casualties and that all the crew are safe.
Many of the passengers on board the Sea Diamond ship are either American or German, local news reports. The ship is taking on water after striking a reef in the volcanic island's lagoon, similar to a lake, and issued a distress signal, launching an operation that has led more than a dozen ships and five Greek Navy helicopters evacuating all the people on board, with many boarding a small ferry that is helping with the operation.
The ship was about one nautical mile - 1.8km - from the island's coast when it ran aground. The ship's operators, Louis Cruise Lines, earlier said that a "controlled evacuation" was underway, but that "there is no danger to passengers". The ship had left the Athenian port of Piraeus on Monday for a five-day tour of the islands.
"Some passengers have already reached the island and no-one has been hurt," an official at the Santorini coastguard has said, whilst Merchant Marine Minister Manolis Kefaloyiannis said to reporters, "Thankfully, everything has gone well so far. Emergency services responded very quickly and very well."
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