Eco disaster ship warning
Locals in a popular Greek holiday spot have warned that a sunken cruise ship is a “ticking time bomb”.
MS Sea Diamond ran into trouble off the coast of Santorini in 2007, and all but two of the 1,195 passengers were rescued.
The ship has been left on its side for the last 17 years, slowly leaking harmful waste into the sea. Even though the Greek government said it would be lifted in 2017, the ship remains at the bottom of the sea, falling apart and rusting.
Now, the locals have had enough. They’ve written to the Government environmental protection committee saying: “The shipwreck remains on the seabed and continues to pollute, at a slow but steady rate. It erodes daily and at any time it could cause an incalculable ecological disaster.”
A recent study by the University of Crete found that the ship had pollutants including fuel, battery fluid, copper cables and various dangerous chemicals. It warned that waiting any longer would only cause more harm to the area.
The ship ran aground on April 5 at 4pm local time on a wellmarked volcanic reef and quickly began taking on water.
Soon the Louis Hellenic line’s Sea Diamond was tilting 12 degrees to starboard before the ship’s watertight doors could be closed.
The passengers – mostly Americans and Canadians – were evacuated within threeand-a half hours, with some climbing down rope ladders from the higher decks to get off.
The ship was then towed off the rocks into the sea, when it was realised two French passengers – Jean Allain and his daughter Maud – were missing. Their bodies have never been found.