Tourist cruise ship aground
Twenty-five German tourists on a sailing cruise near the Ionian island of Paxoi were evacuated safely on Saturday afternoon when the 30-meter Angelika hit a reef and began taking on water. Coast guard vessels and other craft in the area, two nautical miles from the port of Paxoi, rushed to the scene after the captain issued an SOS. All passengers and some of the 10 crew members were transferred safely to port. Six crew members stayed aboard the yacht to help keep it afloat until it could be towed to port. Paxoi port authorities were investigating the cause of the accident, which occurred in well-charted waters in fine weather. Captain Giorgos Tsouroupis, who has great experience in the area, blamed himself for the accident. «It was the result of a bad calculation on my part,» he told NET state television. «I sailed into the reef when I thought I was far from it.»
