Warrants for ship sinking
Arrest warrants have been issued against the captain and two company officials of the cruise ship Sea Diamond which sank in April off the island of Santorini, officials said yesterday. A prosecutor from the island of Naxos has ordered the arrests of the trio, who allegedly failed to take the right action to prevent polluting the area and did not submit a plan to authorities regarding the removal of the remaining fuel from the sunken ship’s tanks – an infringement that has already earned the shipping company 546,000-euro fine. As of late yesterday, authorities had not reported making the arrests. The Sea Diamond’s captain and five officers have already been charged with negligence, breaching international shipping safety regulations and polluting the environment. Louise Hellenic Cruise Lines, the owner of the Sea Diamond, has attributed the disaster – which began when the vessel ran aground on rocks off the popular Greek island – to human error.
