Sea Diamond sinking was unavoidable, says expert
An expert witness in the trial of the 2007 Sea Diamond cruise ship wreck off the coast of the southeast Aegean island of Santorini, said during 18 hours of testimony that the sinking could not have been avoided.
Facing a barrage of objections from prosecutors, Achilleas Kakarantzas told the Piraeus court on Friday that once the ship struck a reef off the coast, it had no chance of staying afloat because it had suffered four long gashes.
“Every 15 minutes, 3,000 tons of water poured into the ship and the pumps could not take out more than 840 tons per hour,” he said.
Kakarantzas is due to continue giving testimony on Thursday.
Two French tourists – Jean Christophe Allain, 45, and his daughter Maud, 16 – died in the wreck.
