A prosecutor on Rhodes yesterday charged four officers from a cruise ship, which began listing in the Dodecanese island's harbor on Tuesday, of deliberately trying to run the vessel aground.

The Bahamas-flagged Dream was carrying 930 Israeli tourists on a Mediterranean cruise but began listing by 10 degrees when it docked in Rhodes.

The prosecutor suggested that the ship's captain, first mate and two engineers, all Greek nationals, intentionally endangered the vessel's safety when they moved ballast from one tank to another.

All four suspects, along with a representative of the company that owns the ship, are being held at the Rhodes Port Authority while divers investigate the cause of the ship's problems. It has been claimed that the vessel struck an object while sailing from Turkey.