9 indicted in Samina ferry case
The Aegean’s Council of Appeals Court Judges has issued an indictment against nine people accused of responsibility in the sinking of the Express Samina ferry with the loss of 80 lives in September 2000. The trial will be heard by the Aegean’s three-member Criminal Appeals Court. The indictment, sources said, accepts the prosecutor’s proposal for the nine to face criminal charges for multiple counts of murder with possible premeditated malice, endangering maritime transportation, endangering passengers and causing a shipwreck. Those indicted are Captain Vassilis Yiannakis, First Mate Tassos Psychogios, Second Mate Yiannis Triandafyllos and First Engineer Gerasimos Skiadaressis, radio operator Dimitris Tsouras, Merchant Marine Ministry ship inspectors Vassilis Theologos and Panayiotis Tsarvas, and Minoan Flying Dolphins representatives Costas Klironomos and Nikos Vikatos (who the prosecutor said should be tried for endangering passengers’ lives). The ferry sank in a storm off Paros on September 26, 2000 after crashing into a well-marked rock formation.
