Court blasts Samina crew
A prosecutor yesterday derided the crew of the Express Samina – which sank off the Aegean island of Paros in September 2000, killing 80 people – as poorly trained and indifferent to their duties, resulting in Greece’s worst ferry accident on record. Six Samina crew members are now on trial for the accident. Prosecutor Panayiotis Brakoumatsos told the court in Athens that the captain, Vassilis Yiannakis, was not properly qualified and had failed to adequately train his crew for emergency situations. The prosecutor also said the second in charge, First Mate Anastassios Psychoyios, was too confident about his abilities and failed to do his job by monitoring the ship’s radar and its location. Yiannakis and Psychoyios face criminal charges of manslaughter with possible malice aforethought, causing bodily harm through negligence, breaching security and causing a shipwreck. The prosecutor is expected to wrap up his closing arguments today.
