Santorini Ship Sinking

[level_head]

The Sea Diamond, a ship operated by Louis Cruise Lines, sank Thursday in the crater of the Greek island of Santorini, which was once the volcano island of Thera before exploding about 3,600 years ago.

Comments

[o_2opine_o]

We look forward to a return to Santorini;

we've seen one of those tv programs [History International or some such] on it. It does look like an idyllic place to visit. -sigh-

[level_head]

One interesting aspect: saffron seemed as common in foods as tomatoes in Italy. But saffron is a tremendously labor-intensive product!

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[deckardcanine]

Thanks for the warning. I'm not going to Santorini.

[level_head]

Ah, but I was not intending it as a warning, my friend. And if you find yourself with an occasion -- or excuse -- to travel to this pleasant little Greek island, I say take it!

There are rocks in waters all over the world; this situation is so surprising because it was "fair weather" and the area was clearly marked. On the island, up the cable cars to the city visible as the white "crest" on the mountains, we encountered no unpleasant people. We enjoyed good food, good company (including a stray cat who adopted us for the duration) and very interesting architecture, unique to the island.

We intend to go back.

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[pengolodh_sc]

The ship was originally built 1986 as the Birka Princess for 24-hour cruises in the Baltic ocean, and did that until 2004 when sold to her current Cypriotic owners Louis Cruises and renamed Sea Diamond. The ship had a large rebuild in 1999, changing her looks quite a bit, and also apparently deleting her cardeck - the cardeck was for the benefit of cruise passengers on the 24hour cruises, who would have the opportunity to park their car onboard. Passenger capacity after the rebuild was 1537 passengers.

On this page there are many images of the ship (click on them for larger versions). The first four are of her prior to the reconstruction, and in some of the images can be seen quite clearly the large loading-ramp aft on the port side, leading to the former cardeck. Among the images are links to photos of her interior following the reconstruction, and also deckplans from after her sale to Louis Cruises.

The ship was something of a celebrity in Sweden, as it was a TV-star. The Swedish TV-series Rederiet ran on Swedish TV for ten

[level_head]

Interesting, thanks!

This makes a sad sort of epitaph -- especially for an English speaker.2007 04 06. Sjönk fartyget på morgonen på ca 140 meters djup utanför Santorini.
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[the_lizard_rat]

It's probably going to cost a boatload to raise her later, too...

Or do they intend to leave her at the bottom? Seems a waste if they have the money and time to get her back up and somehow to drydock for repair.

Lizard Rat out.
Taking On Water in Albany NY

[pengolodh_sc]

The vessel is reportedly lying in 140 meters/460 ft/76 fathoms of water - here's a chart of Santorini and immediately surrounding waters.

I somehow doubt she'll be raised - it would probably be technologically possible, but with relatively low benefit compared to rather high cost. It seems likely to me that if the ship was raised after all, it would be so expensive to repair it that it would be sold for scrap, and even with today's high steel prices, I doubt they'd be able to recoup the cost of raising the ship.

As far as the operating company is concerned, it is probably cheaper and easier to buy another ship - this ship - M/S Opera - might be suitable. She has roughly the same parameters (age, size, speed, passenger capacity, designed cruise-duration) as the sunk Sea Diamond, and is moreover available for purchase or hire. Like the Sea Diamond was before being purchased by Louis Cruises, M/S Opera was operated short cruises on the Baltic (albeit by a different company, but the market segments served by the two ships were

Couple of videos

[pengolodh_sc]

Both videos from state-owned Swedish TV. You will likely get a window showing two sets of checkboxes and radio-buttons for choosing between Windows Media Player and Realplayer, and a separate checkbox if you want the site to remember your choices. The videos work best in Internet Explorer, in my experience.

Video of ship being evacuated - the ship is being moved around a fair bit throughout the evacuation process.

Video of the ship disappearing below the surface - the ship is sinking very, very close to shore. To me it looks possible that the beach is closer to the ship than the seabed.

[marmoe]

The early report seems to be wrong.
Both the German main TV news magazine Tagesschau as well as the news magazine Focus reported on Apr. 7 that there were no German passengers.

It's sad to see a ship sink. May the two French tourists rest in peace.