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Flashback in maritime History: Sea Diamond sinking at Santorini 5 April 2007

cruise ship sunk at santorini

( www.MaritimeCyprus.com ) The cruise ship, owned by Louis Hellenic Cruises, sank on April 5 2007 after ramming  a reef near the Aegean island of Santorini with 1,195 passengers and 391 crew on board. All onboard were safely evacuated except a French man, Jean Christophe Allain (age 45) and his daughter Maud (age 16), who were never found.

cruise ship sunk at santorini

Between 1992 and 2002, the ship's exterior was used to portray the fictional ship MS Freja in the Swedish TV soap opera Rederiet.

As built, she had a small car deck, with space for 80 passenger cars and a rampon the port side in the rear.  Like most  cr uiseferries in the Baltic Sea, she was built to ice class 1A.

In 1999 she was extensively refitted at Lloyd Werft in Germany at a cost of approximately US$26 million.  The fore superstructure was extended and streamlined and 62 new passenger cabins were added, including a new deck of cabins above the bridge. In October 2004, when the new MS  Birka Paradise  was delivered, the  Birka Princess  started making two-night cruises from Stockholm to Turku, Helsinki and Tallinn, as well one weekly 24-hour cruise from Stockholm to Mariehamn. The new itineraries proved largely unsuccessful, and on January 2, 2006, the ship was laid up in Mariehamn and put up for sale.

In February 2006 she was sold to the Cyprus-based Louis Cruise Lines for US$35 million (€29.4 million).  As built, the ship only had an indoor pool in the sauna section on deck 2 in the bow of the ship.  A new outdoor swimming pool was installed and the sundeck area increased at Turku Repair Yard, Naantali.  She entered service in the Mediterranean Sea as the second former Birka Line ship in the Louis Cruise Lines fleet, after MS  Princesa Marissa , the former MS  Prinsessan / Finnhansa . After the sale she was registered in Valletta, Malta. She changed flags in late 2006. At the time of her sinking she was owned by Elona Maritime Ltd, a company based in Malta, but registered at Piraeus, Greece.

cruise ship sunk at santorini

Two French citizens, Jean Christophe Allain, aged 45, and his daughter Maud, 16, were listed as missing. Allain's wife 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 the events happened so suddenly. Her son was on deck at the time and was evacuated safely.  The family were accommodated in cabin 2014 an outside standard cabin on the starboard side of the vessel on deck 2, the lowest passenger deck.

Divers examined the wreck on April 6 to gather information on the ship's current position and to seek the missing passengers. The underwater search of this cabin recovered nothing. Divers continued searching on April 10, but nothing was reported. Later in the same day, local governors apologized to the French family for their missing relatives.  The black box containing the recordings of the conversations before the crash was discovered on April 15, while the bodies of the two missing persons were never found.

cruise ship sunk at santorini

Investigations

On April 7, Greek authorities announced that they were charging the captain and five other officers with negligence. State television reported they were charged with causing a shipwreck through negligence, breaching international shipping safety regulations and polluting the environment. Additional charges could be made depending on the fate of the two missing passengers. All six were released until further notice but if convicted they could face a five-year prison sentence.

On April 13, 2007, it was reported that investigators using a remotely controlled submarine found the ship's data recorder (VDR). In a struggle to protect the data, they secured it in a special sterilized bin and the authorities were to have transferred it to the United States in order to reveal the saved data, an action that only the manufacturer of the VDR can perform. The Greek Merchant Marine Ministry said the recorder could reveal details of the sinking of the ship which could be used in the prosecution of crew members.

DNV, one of the world's leading classification agencies, stated in their press release that "At the time of the accident, DNV had issued class certificate, safety management certificate and ship security certificate. Sea Diamond had no overdue surveys and no condition of class". For the Sea Diamond to have been issued a Class certificate, her water-tight doors would have to have been fully operational.

Investigations carried out by the defence team of the Master of the Vessel and Louis Cruise Lines, after a lawsuit had been filed against them, have included a new hydrographic survey of the area of the accident in Santorini. This survey was carried out by Akti Engineering, and discovered discrepancies between the actual mapping of the sea area and the official charts used by the Sea Diamond  (and all other vessels) at the time of the accident. The detailed survey claimed that the reef, which the  Sea Diamond  struck, is in fact lying at 131 meters (429 feet) from shore and not at a distance of 57 meters (187 feet) as is incorrectly marked on the nautical chart. The official chart also shows the depth of the water at the area of impact varying from 18–22 meters, whilst the recent survey shows that it is only 5 meters.

The findings obtained by Akti Engineering have since been passed on to the Hellenic Hydrographic Office of the Hellenic Navy and other responsible authorities, with the aim that the necessary changes to maritime charts should be made and similar accidents to be prevented.  According to a branch reviewing source, the Hellenic Hydrographic Office initially rejected the new mapping,  but a later study confirmed the findings of Akti.

A Greek scuba diver gathering evidence for a judicial investigation of the  Sea Diamond  shipwreck died in October 2007 from decompression sickness after ascending too quickly.

cruise ship sunk at santorini

In order to avoid an oil spill, plans were made to recover some 450 tonnes (496 short tons) of fuel from the ship's tanks. As of September 20, 2007, fuel had started to leak into other parts of the ship, but not yet into the surrounding environment.  In June, 2009, the fuel was pumped off the wreck.  On May 14, 2007, it was announced that Louis Cruise Lines had bought M/S  Silja Opera  (renaming it M/S  Cristal ) to replace the  Sea Diamond .

On June 19, 2007, the owners, operator and captain of the  Sea Diamond  cruise ship were fined €1.17 million for causing marine pollution.

On August 21, 2007, a lawsuit was filed in United States federal court on behalf of the passengers who were aboard the ship when she sank.

After six years in the courts, the Sea Diamond captain and an insurance company employee were given 12 and 8 years jail sentences, respectively. The Greek newspaper Eleftherotypia (now defunct) speculated no actual jail time would be served.

The Piraeus appeals court ruled the captain of the Louis Hellenic Cruise Lines vessel, which ran aground near the island’s Athinios port, the first mate and the head of operations ashore were all guilty of negligence. Capt. Yiannis Marinos, 38 at the time, was handed a five-year jail sentence, which he can buy out for €5 a day, some €9,125 ($12,400) in total. At the initial trial he had received a sentence of 12 years and two months. The head of operations was given a three-year term suspended for three years, and the first mate a 26-month suspended sentence.  However, five others, including two representatives of the cruise company, were cleared of any wrongdoing.

After the sinking there was much demand from the residents of Santorini for the wreck be raised and removed. Further questions were posed but never answered as to why the ship was moved to deeper water to be allowed to sink in the first place. In May 2011, the Greek government claimed that removing the  Sea Diamond  would be "too costly" and said that the 150-million-euro cost of raising the ship should be the responsibility of the insurers and company that owned the ship. The latter two have no plans to raise the ship, however, and nothing will be resolved.

In October 2017 the Merchant Marine Ministry of Greece announced the wreck will be raised, out of environmental and navigational concerns.

For more interesting maritime history click HERE

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Watch CBS News

Cruise Ship Sinks Near Greece; 2 Missing

April 6, 2007 / 12:32 PM EDT / CBS/AP

A Mediterranean cruise ship that struck a volcanic reef and forced the evacuation of hundreds of tourists sank on Friday, 15 hours after it began taking on water off the coast of the Greek island of Santorini. A Frenchman and his daughter were missing, officials said.

The death throes of the Sea Diamond were broadcast around the world Friday morning, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips .

Passengers on Thursday climbed down rope ladders to coast guard boats below in a three-hour rescue that involved Greece's military, commercial ships and the island's local fishermen. About 700 of the 1200 passengers on the five-day cruise were American, many of them students. There were also groups from Canada and Spain.

Authorities said two French passengers — a 45-year-old man and his 16-year-old daughter — had still not been accounted for, and lists of rescued passengers were being rechecked.

Tourism Minister Fanny Palli Petralia said she had spoken with the missing passenger's wife.

"The lady said her cabin filled with water when the ship struck rocks and that she narrowly escaped," Petralia said. "She was not sure whether her husband and daughter made it out because things happened so suddenly ... in a few seconds. Her other child was up on deck and was evacuated safely."

Those rescued said most people remained calm though there were some tense moments.

The Sea Diamond struck rocks in the sea-filled crater formed by a volcanic eruption 3,500 years ago. But the waters are well-charted, reports Phillips .

Tourists gathered on clifftop towns and villages to watch the rescue.

"We realized there was a serious problem ... We exited our cabin and it was tough to be able to walk out of the ship. A lot of people were very emotional over it, upset, very frightened," said Stephen Johnson, a Canadian passenger.

An Australian passenger, Katie Sumner, said the early stages of the rescue were chaotic.

"We heard a big shudder and then the whole boat started to tilt," Sumner said.

"All of our glasses were sliding everywhere and our warning that the ship was sinking was some of the staff running down the corridor screaming out 'life jackets' and banging on doors, so we got no time to, sort of, get ready or anything, we just left as we were."

The 469-foot Sea Diamond was operated by Louis Cruise Lines, part of a Cyprus-based tourism group. The Merchant Marine Ministry said 1,195 passengers and 391 crew members were on board.

"Whoever is responsible for this will be held accountable in the strictest way," Petralia said. "Greece is a major tourism destination and incidents like this must not be allowed to occur. ... Authorities handled the rescue very well."

Most of the rescued passengers arrived at Athens' main port of Piraeus Friday on a chartered ferry and a Louis cruise ship.

Authorities on Santorini said they were working to contain a small oil spillage from the sunken ship.

The Sea Diamond's captain and three officers were being interviewed Friday by coast guard investigators who flew to Santorini.

More than 300 rescued passengers arrived at Athens' main port of Piraeus early Friday on a chartered ferry, and more were due to arrive later in the day on another Louis cruise ship.

More from CBS News

The 11-hour anguished search for survivors of the shipwreck in Greece: ‘Ship sinking. We’re asking you to come to the rescue’

In the early hours of the morning of june 14, the captain of an oil tanker received a call to help save the trawler that sank 30 miles off the coast of greece. the sea had swallowed everything up. navigational data show contradictions in greece’s official account of events.

Naufragio Grecia

It was a clear, windless dawn, and the sea was as smooth as glass. The Rekon , a 122-meter Maltese-flagged tanker, was going about its route to the port of Haifa in Israel. Then the radio announced a distress call: “Ship sinking. Large number of people. Vessels in the vicinity are asked to proceed with search and rescue operations.” The officer immediately alerted the captain. It was June 14 at 2:12 a.m. local Greek time.

Captain Sait Bektasoglu, a 63-year-old Turk with four decades of experience at sea, ran to the bridge. “We changed our course immediately to the wreck site, we adjusted our radars for sensitivity, and I mobilized the crew,” he recalls. His account of 11 hours of fruitless searching is harrowing and rich in heretofore unknown details.

It took the Rekon an hour and 15 minutes to reach the coordinates it received, an area some 50 miles off the Greek coast. When it arrived, the luxury yacht Mayan Queen IV and two other cargo ships were already searching the water for survivors. The tanker then slowed down, turned on its search lights and its crew of 14 sailors began scanning the vast stretch of black water with binoculars. They didn’t see or hear anything. “It was as if nothing had happened,” recalls the captain. “There were no life jackets, no floats, no trace of oil, no trash, no floating material from the ship, nothing,” he recounts.

The Adriana , a ramshackle fishing boat of about 25 meters, had set sail for Italy with some 750 occupants on board. Women and children were crammed into the hold and many of the men were on deck. They were Syrian and Afghan refugees, Egyptians, Pakistanis and Palestinians. The Greek authorities had been aware of the ship’s presence since 11 a.m. on June 13 and, in addition to keeping it under surveillance, ordered two ships in the area to deliver food and water to those onboard. They never activated a rescue operation, despite the conditions in which the ship was sailing, not even when the ship’s engine broke down at 1:40 a.m. Between 2:04 a.m. and 2:19 a.m., the old metal fishing trawler jolted violently and then disappeared right before the eyes of the Greek coastguard. It is still not clear what happened, but the sea swallowed everything up.

Greece’s official version of events claims that the castaways refused any help and continued on their way to Italy. But navigation data contradicts that assertion. The coordinates of the distress call place the trawler just over a mile from its location at 7.30 p.m. when a first vessel approached it to supply it with food. In other words, in the seven hours between the delivery of supplies and when it sank, the Adriana was not approaching Italy as the Greek authorities claim ; the ship made practically no progress and moved just over a mile away towards its presumed destination.

Captain Sait Bektasoglu participated in the search for survivors of the wrecked fishing boat in Greek waters, on June 13.

While Bektasoglu was scanning the sea from the deck, between 3:00 and 4:00, a Greek patrol boat arrived and took command of the operation. The radio continued to instruct nearby vessels to approach the area. One passenger cruise ship, the Celebrity Beyond , “asked if it could lower its rescue boat and join the search, but was told no,” Bektasoglu explains. “There were already too many ships searching without detecting anything,” the captain theorizes. As many as eight large ships participated in the search for survivors. EL PAÍS unsuccessfully tried to contact them all.

The radio was constantly broadcasting messages to all the ships involved in the rescue. The Mayan Queen IV , a luxury yacht owned by a multimillionaire Mexican family, reported that it had already pulled a hundred or so castaways out of the water alive. “I don’t know how it sank at a depth of 4,500 meters, but I am sure that if this superyacht had not been there, the freighters could not have rescued more than two people each. The survivors were lucky to come across a ship that could rescue them and reunite over 100 people. A superyacht is much better equipped than the coast guard boats,” Bektasoglu explains.

“I couldn’t stand it,” Bektasoglu recounts. “I suggested that [the Turkish bulk carrier] ask the cruiser for help, but he was ordered to wait. [The Rusander ] kept asking for medical assistance for more than an hour, and again I recommended that he approach the cruiser for help. They ignored me in both Turkish and English,” the veteran sailor maintains.

The helicopter finally appeared as dawn was breaking. “It picked up the living and the lifeless bodies that were transferred to the Greek ship,” Bektasoglu explains. A new Greek patrol boat joined the operation. In all, 81 bodies were recovered.

The veteran captain, who had gone 11 hours without rescuing anyone, eating or sleeping, began to lose hope. “We did not experience a chaotic situation because there was nothing to be seen, there was no dramatic scene. The water was still like a mirror and after a few hours we lost morale,” he explains.

At 7:00 a.m. he asked for permission to continue his trip but was denied. A half an hour later, a military frigate arrived, took over command and gave the ships new coordinates to continue the search. “They sent me to two different places, I increased speed, arrived and searched,” he recounts. Again, the search was unsuccessful. Over the radio, he heard a freighter being ordered to “raise your boat, pick up the body and bring it to the Greek ship.” Other ships also used their lifeboats, while two helicopters flew overhead, he says.

The Turkish captain appreciates the measures the Greeks deployed, even though they only activated the search and rescue operation when the trawler was already sinking. “For several hours they deployed a plane, a patrol boat, two coast guard frigates, a rescue ship, three helicopters and a navy frigate; it’s a great effort,” he says.

At 8:30 a.m., Bektasoglu tried to leave again. He was in a hurry because he had to unload 5,200 tons of methyl tertiary butyl ether (a liquid that increases fuel efficiency) in Israel and then arrive in Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina, by June 20. He was not cleared to leave the operation until 11:45. As he left, he heard other ships being radioed to join the search. “I was tired, went to the bridge at 2.20 and couldn’t stop for lunch until after 12:00 the next day. I spent 11 hours on the search,” he recalls.

The captain learned what happened next from the press. He is frustrated that he didn’t find anyone to save. He also curses the human traffickers “who do business this way” and “buried” hundreds of people at a depth of 4,500 meters. He muses that “in a few centuries, when they find these bodies, they will serve as evidence for historians.”

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition

More information

Aerial image of the fishing trawler 'Adriana' taken by Frontex on June 13 in the Greek SAR zone.

Greece imposes silence around shipwreck of overcrowded migrant boat

Survivors of the Ionian Sea shipwreck prepare to board a bus at the port of Kalamata, bound for Athens, June 16, 2023.

Activists criticize arrest of nine survivors of Greek shipwreck: ‘The real traffickers do not risk their lives on boats like this one’

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Greece to raise cruise ship that sank off Santorini in 2007

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ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The Greek government has ordered the raising of a sunken cruise ship that foundered just off the holiday island of Santorini ten years ago, leaving two passengers missing and presumed dead.

The Merchant Marine Ministry said Friday the wreck of the Sea Diamond poses a potential environmental risk and is a hazard to shipping.

On April 5, 2007, the 470-foot (143-meter) cruise ship struck a volcanic reef in the sea-filled crater formed by a massive volcanic eruption 3,500 years ago. It lies more than 300 feet (91 meters) deep.

Nearly all the 1,600 passengers and crew were safely evacuated, but a 45-year-old French passenger and his teenage daughter are presumed to have drowned. Divers were unable to locate any bodies.

The ministry did not say when the ship would be raised.

cruise ship sunk at santorini

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Urgent warning over menacing cargo on board sunken cruise ship stranded off holiday island dubbed a ‘ticking time bomb’

  • Published : 12:02 ET, Feb 20 2024
  • Updated : 4:03 ET, Feb 21 2024
  • Published : Invalid Date,

A POPULAR holiday island is on the brink of disaster as a sunken shipwreck left to rot for years has started to pollute the nearby environment, campaigners fear.

Urgent warnings have been issued over the Greek island of Santorini amid catastrophic fears of toxic waste being released into the sea.

Underwater picture shows the haunting wreckage of MS Diamond left to rot for more than 16 years

The hulk of cruise ship MS Sea Diamond has been abandoned on the sea floor for 16 years after the 22,000-ton ship ran aground and sank.

Locals have been desperately fighting for years for the removal of the wreck, fearing a potential catastrophe from the pollution coming from the ship’s fuel tanks.

In a letter sent to the Greek Parliament’s Special Standing Committee for Environmental Protection this week, residents have demanded the necessary decision for the immediate removal of the ship.

"The shipwreck remains on the seabed and continues to pollute, at a slow but steady rate, it erodes daily and at any time it can cause an incalculable ecological disaster," the letter read.

But local authorities have so far failed to salvage the shipwreck, resulting in a long-running dispute over which one is responsible for its removal.

Local campaigners told The Sun that the island is "heading for disaster" in a major row over a disintegrating shipwreck .

They say the government "has failed the community" in preventing the looming environmental disaster.

It is feared that the toxic chemicals released from the wreckage could poison the island's coastlines and make it dangerous for beachgoers.

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The goverment has failed the community in preventing the looming environmental disaster Local residents

Major pollutants inside the Santorini shipwreck include large volumes of motor fuel and lubricants, hundreds of litres of battery electrolytes, copper cables, toxic heavy metals and other dangerous chemicals.

Experts suggest it could at least take at least 400 years for these pollutants to decompose.

And now they fear the rotting wreck could push the island into a catastrophic event, branding it a "ticking time bomb".

Loucas Lignos, head of the campaign group The Coordinating Committee of Thira Citizens for the Lifting of the Sea Diamond, explained how the wreck could spark disaster for Santorini.

He told The Sun: "The shipwreck is located exactly in the caldera of Santorini, around 800m from the port. It is sunk about 100m underwater.

"It has 300 tonnes of fuel oils and other toxic chemicals, machine oils, in the generators, wires that are filled with copper, other materials from PBC and plastic that will slowly be diluted into the water over time.

"All these carcinogenic substances are dangerous for humans. At the same time, desalination procedures cannot filter through the dangerous heavy metals.

"The main problem is that these chemicals can enter the human body through bioaccumulation- either via desalination of the water or by fish consumption.

"If that happens it will be a huge environmental disaster for the Santorini beaches."

It was April 5, 2007, when the cruise ship, owned by Louis Hellenic Cruises, sank on a reef off the island with a total of 1,195 passengers.

The majority of those onboard - mostly Americans and Canadians -were safely evacuated.

The only victims were French dad Jean Christophe Allain, 45, and his 16-year-old daughter Maud whose bodies were never found.

In the months following the disaster, an attempt to decontaminate the waters surrounding the wreck was made, followed by an unsuccessful pumping operation two years later.

The wreckage of the 469ft ship was then left to rot - and remains in the sea today as an artificial reef polluting the nearby environment.

Merchant Marine Minister Manolis Kefaloyiannis pointing to the sunken Sea Diamond cruise ship

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Nine Convicted Over 2007 Sea Diamond Sinking

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Sea Diamond against the rocks in Santorini.

A Greek court has convicted nine of a total thirteen defendants on trial for their role in the fatal 2007 sinking of the Sea Diamond cruise ship off the coast of Santorini.

The Piraeus court imposed suspended sentences Wednesday ranging from six months to just over 12 years, and acquitted another four defendants, according to a report by the Associated Press.

The strictest sentence -12 years and two months and an €8,000 fine- was handed to the ship’s captain for causing an accident, negligence that led to manslaughter, and marine pollution, the AP report says .

The Sea Diamond, owned by Louis Hellenic Cruises, ran aground along the coast of Santorini on April 5, 2007 with nearly 1,200 passengers and 400 crew. Following an evacuation of everyone onboard, the ship was towed offshore and sank on April 6. It was later reported that two French passengers went missing and were presumed dead.

Also sentenced were a DNV employee (8 years), the navigation officer (two years and 10 months), the chief engineer (two years and four months), the company’s legal representative (two years), an inspector/auditor (15 months) and a security officer (six months and a €600 fine), according to Greece’s Enet English. The first engineer officer, chief officer, chief steward and the cabin manager were all acquitted, the report says .

No attempt has ever been made to raise the ship.

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Court imposes fine over ship still lying on Santorini seabed

Court imposes fine over ship still lying on Santorini seabed

Fifteen years after the Sea Diamond cruise ship sank off the coast of the island of Santorini, national and local authorities have still not salvaged the wreck.

Last Friday, the Council of State, Greece’s highest administrative court, imposed a 5,000-euro fine on the Ministry of Shipping and Island Policy and the island’s main port for not complying with the court’s order, from 2019, to proceed with the salvaging.

The fine is small, but local opinion is gathering steam: It was the island’s citizens who petitioned the court and they are increasingly agitated by the continued presence of the 21,500-ton, 143-meter ship, which has become an artificial reef and a potential navigation hazard.

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Greece to raise cruise ship that sank off Santorini in 2007

ATHENS, Greece – The Greek government has ordered the raising of a sunken cruise ship that foundered just off the holiday island of Santorini ten years ago, leaving two passengers missing and presumed dead.

The Merchant Marine Ministry said Friday the wreck of the Sea Diamond poses a potential environmental risk and is a hazard to shipping.

On April 5, 2007, the 470-foot (143-meter) cruise ship struck a volcanic reef in the sea-filled crater formed by a massive volcanic eruption 3,500 years ago. It lies more than 300 feet (91 meters) deep.

Nearly all the 1,600 passengers and crew were safely evacuated, but a 45-year-old French passenger and his teenage daughter are presumed to have drowned. Divers were unable to locate any bodies.

The ministry did not say when the ship would be raised.

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What Caused the Cruise Ship to Sink in Santorini?

By Michael Ferguson

cruise ship sunk at santorini

The cruise ship that sunk in Santorini has been a source of mystery and speculation in the years since the accident occurred. The exact cause of the sinking has never been officially determined, but there are several theories that have been suggested.

The most commonly accepted theory is that the ship struck an underwater rock or reef while sailing too close to shore. Santorini is known for its rocky coastline, and it’s possible that the captain was not aware of the presence of a large rock or reef just below the surface. The impact of hitting this large obstacle could have caused significant damage to the ship, causing it to rapidly take on water and sink.

Another theory suggests that the ship experienced mechanical failure due to an issue with its engines or other machinery. This could have caused a loss of power, allowing water to enter into the hull and eventually leading to sinking.

A third potential explanation is that human error played a role in causing the accident. It’s possible that either inadequate maintenance or improper operation led to some kind of malfunction which eventually caused the ship to take on water and sink.

Conclusion:

While the exact cause of why this cruise ship sank in Santorini remains unknown, it is likely that either a collision with an underwater rock or reef, mechanical failure, or human error were responsible for this tragedy.

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NBC News

Ukraine says it sunk a Russian patrol ship near Crimea, its latest Black Sea victory

Ukraine said Tuesday it had sunk a Russian patrol ship off the coast of occupied Crimea, claiming another victory over the Kremlin's forces in the hotly contested waters of the Black Sea.

Moscow did not confirm the claim, which would represent the latest blow to its naval power as Kyiv strikes targets deep inside enemy territory even as its army suffers setbacks on the battlefield . 

Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said that it had used high-tech sea drones in an overnight attack on the large patrol ship Sergey Kotov near the Kerch Strait, separating the annexed peninsula’s eastern coast from mainland Russia. 

The agency published a video purporting to show the ship being blown up and going up in flames. It did not say anything about the fate of the ship’s crew.

NBC News could not independently verify the video, or confirm the extent of the damage to the ship or personnel losses. 

The ship can reportedly carry cruise missiles and around 60 crew, according to The Associated Press.

A Telegram channel tracking traffic on the nearby Kerch Bridge, which connects Crimea to Russia, said traffic was temporarily suspended overnight, without specifying the reason. The traffic on the bridge resumed early Tuesday. 

Ukraine has dealt Russia's Black Sea fleet a number of costly blows in the last year, despite an unsuccessful counteroffensive on the ground.

It’s been losing territory to new Russian offensives in recent weeks, hampered by ammunition shortages and stalled Western aid, but Kyiv appears to still be able to mount successful operations at sea.

In the early months of the war, Ukraine famously dealt Russia a high-profile setback by sinking the flagship Moskva with hundreds of crew on board. 

More recently, Kyiv has deployed its own uncrewed sea drones laden with explosives to threaten Russian vessels.

The attacks around Crimea have helped push Moscow’s naval forces back to their own Black Sea ports, allowing Kyiv more freedom of navigation and control of an area crucial to exporting grain.

Just last month, Ukraine claimed it sank the Caesar Kunikov landing ship off the coast of Crimea. Two weeks before that, its military intelligence claimed to have sunk the corvette Ivanovets, also off the peninsula’s coast. Those attacks were never acknowledged by Russia. 

There was no immediate reaction from the Russian defense ministry to Tuesday’s sinking either. It did not return NBC News’ request for comment. However, some Russian military bloggers reported that the ship was destroyed, with conflicting information about the crew.

Sergey Kotov appears to be one of Russia’s newest, state-of-the-art ships. It was only launched in 2021, according to the defense ministry. Ukraine said it had cost about $65 million.

In an apparent reference to the attack on Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, called the Russian Black Sea Fleet a “symbol of occupation” that does not belong in Crimea. 

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

Footage released by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry on Tuesday shows what it claims is the warship being hit in the Black Sea. (Ukrainian Defense Ministry )

IMAGES

  1. Greek Cruise Ship Sinks

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  2. Santorini Shipwreck an Environmental Time Bomb Ready to Explode

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  3. Flashback in maritime History

    cruise ship sunk at santorini

  4. Flashback in maritime History: Sea Diamond sinking at Santorini 5 April

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  5. Sinking Cruise Ship

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  6. Greek Cruise Ship Sinks

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COMMENTS

  1. MS Sea Diamond

    MS Sea Diamond was a cruise ship operated by Louis Hellenic Cruise Lines.She was built in 1984 by Valmet, Finland for Birka Line as Birka Princess.The ship ran aground near the Greek island of Santorini 5 April 2007, and sank the next day leaving two passengers missing and presumed dead.

  2. Santorini Shipwreck Is an Environmental Disaster Waiting To Happen

    For more than 13 years, a sunken cruise ship has rested deep underwater on a steep slope of the Santorini caldera. The ship, the MS Sea Diamond, ran aground off the Greek island on April 5, 2007.

  3. 6 Years Later: Verdict in Deadly Sinking of Sea Diamond Cruise Ship

    The judges sentenced an employee of DNV (Det Norske Veritas), which deemed the cruise ship seaworthy, to eight years. The cruise ship, owned by Louis Hellenic Cruises, sank on April 6 2007 after ramming a reef near the Aegean island of Santorini with 1,195 passengers and 391 crew on board. A French man, Jean Christophe Allain (age 45) and his ...

  4. Santorini Shipwreck an Environmental Time Bomb Ready to Explode

    The Santorini shipwreck. Credit: Loucas Lignos. The Santorini shipwreck of the cruise ship MS Sea Diamond has been a permanent feature of the Greek island for the last 17 years. The people of Santorini are still fighting for the removal of the wreck that has become a hot potato between stakeholders as it evolves into a silent environmental time ...

  5. Sea Diamond's Toxic Legacy

    Cruise ship "Sea Diamond" sank in 2007 off Santorini. The tragedy began on April 5, 2007, when Captain Giannis Marinos steered the ship carrying 1167 passengers onto a reef, causing a 33-foot-long ...

  6. Flashback in maritime History: Sea Diamond sinking at Santorini 5 April

    0. 11668. ( www.MaritimeCyprus.com) The cruise ship, owned by Louis Hellenic Cruises, sank on April 5 2007 after ramming a reef near the Aegean island of Santorini with 1,195 passengers and 391 crew on board. All onboard were safely evacuated except a French man, Jean Christophe Allain (age 45) and his daughter Maud (age 16), who were never found.

  7. Cruise Ship Sinks Near Greece; 2 Missing

    Cruise Ship Sinks Near Greece; 2 Missing. April 6, 2007 / 12:32 PM EDT / CBS/AP. A Mediterranean cruise ship that struck a volcanic reef and forced the evacuation of hundreds of tourists sank on ...

  8. Damaged Louis Cruise's Sea Diamond sinks off of Santorini

    Divers were searching for two missing passengers after the 22,400-ton Sea Diamond sank just off of Santorini, ... Louis Cruise Lines said. The 20-year-old ship scraped the volcanic reef off the ...

  9. Greece orders raising of Sea Diamond wreck off Santorini

    The Greek government has ordered the raising of the sunken cruise ship Sea Diamond that foundered just off the popular holiday island of Santorini 10 years ago, leaving two French passengers missing and presumed dead. Greek Shipping and Island Policy Minister Panagiotis Kouroumplis has published a letter ordering coast guard and local ...

  10. The 11-hour anguished search for survivors of the shipwreck in Greece

    The 11-hour anguished search for survivors of the shipwreck in Greece: 'Ship sinking. We're asking you to come to the rescue' In the early hours of the morning of June 14, the captain of an oil tanker received a call to help save the trawler that sank 30 miles off the coast of Greece. The sea had swallowed everything up.

  11. Popular holiday island 'heading for disaster' over sunken cruise ship

    The cruise ship, which sunk off the coast of the Greek island of Santorini in 2007, was left to rot under the sea for years. And now experts fear the MS Sea Diamond is releasing toxic waste into ...

  12. Santorini Residents Warn of Urgent Environmental Threat as Cruise Ship

    Santorini residents warn that the wreck of a cruise ship, which grounded near the popular tourist destination in 2007 and sank the next day, is a ticking time bomb that poses an ecological threat. The Santorini Association for the Salvaging of the Sea Diamond Wreck has sent a letter to Parliament's Special Standing Committee for

  13. Popular holiday island 'heading for disaster' due to sunken cruise ship

    The cruise ship, which sunk off the coast of the Greek island of Santorini in 2007, ... There are fears that toxic waste could spill out of the sunken ship and poison Santorini's coastlines ...

  14. Greece to raise cruise ship that sank off Santorini in 2007

    ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The Greek government has ordered the raising of a sunken cruise ship that foundered just off the holiday island of Santorini ten years ago, leaving two passengers missing and presumed dead. The Merchant Marine Ministry said Friday the wreck of the Sea Diamond poses a potential environmental risk and is a hazard to shipping. On April 5, 2007, the 470-foot (143-meter ...

  15. Urgent warning over cruise ship sunken off holiday island dubbed 'time

    "If that happens it will be a huge environmental disaster for the Santorini beaches." It was April 5, 2007, when the cruise ship, owned by Louis Hellenic Cruises, sank on a reef off the island with a total of 1,195 passengers. The majority of those onboard - mostly Americans and Canadians -were safely evacuated.

  16. Santorini wreck a ticking time bomb, residents warn

    The wreck of a cruise ship, which ran aground near the popular tourist destination of Santorini in April 2007 and sank the next day, has remained an ecological bomb at the bottom of the island's caldera, according to the coordinating committee of the Santorini Association for the Salvaging of the Sea Diamond Wreck in a letter it sent to Parliament's Special Standing Committee for ...

  17. Nine Convicted Over 2007 Sea Diamond Sinking

    A Greek court has convicted nine of a total thirteen defendants on trial for their role in the fatal 2007 sinking of the Sea Diamond cruise ship off the coast of Santorini. The Piraeus court ...

  18. Court imposes fine over ship still lying on Santorini seabed

    15.11.2022 • 22:35. Fifteen years after the Sea Diamond cruise ship sank off the coast of the island of Santorini, national and local authorities have still not salvaged the wreck. Last Friday, the Council of State, Greece's highest administrative court, imposed a 5,000-euro fine on the Ministry of Shipping and Island Policy and the island ...

  19. Why Did Cruise Ship Sank in Santorini?

    The sinking of the cruise ship Santorini has been a topic of much debate, with many people questioning why and how it happened. On April 15th, 2021, the cruise ship Santorini was traveling from Crete to Santorini, Greece when it suddenly began to list and eventually sank into the sea. The incident resulted in the death of five passengers and ...

  20. Sinking Cruise Ship

    http://www.santorinirealestate.comhttp://www.santoriniselection.com To all the meanies who commented on my last video about the poor camera work, I am sorry....

  21. Greece to raise cruise ship that sank off Santorini in 2007

    On April 5, 2007, the 470-foot (143-meter) cruise ship struck a volcanic reef in the sea-filled crater formed by a massive volcanic eruption 3,500 years ago. It lies more than 300 feet (91 meters ...

  22. Sunken Cruise Ship Off Santorini Bleeding Pollution Underwater

    February 19, 2024. By The National Herald. FILE - "Sea Diamond" sank on April 5, 2007 in Santorini, Greece. (Photo by Eurokinissi) ATHENS - The wreck of a cruise ship, which ran aground and sank off Santorini in April 2007 is eroding and polluting the waters at the popular area after earlier reports said that it wasn't presenting any ...

  23. What Caused the Cruise Ship to Sink in Santorini?

    Which Cruise Ship Sank in Santorini? In September 2020, the cruise ship Aegean Odyssey sunk off the coast of Santorini, Greece. The incident occurred when the ship was en route from Piraeus to Mykonos. It is believed that the sinking was caused by strong winds and high waves.

  24. Ukraine says it sunk a Russian patrol ship near Crimea, its ...

    Ukraine said Tuesday it had sunk a Russian patrol ship off the coast of occupied Crimea, ... The ship can reportedly carry cruise missiles and around 60 crew, according to The Associated Press.