Greek cruise ship sinks after stricking mapped reef. To maritime experts: How such an accident happen?

Question

On 6/4/07 a Greek cruise ship carrying approx 1150 passengers and 400 crew sunk after striking a reef close to Santorini island. Reef is shown in maps, gps etc Two French people are still missing.

The accident happened in broad daylight and in fair weather. The ship was well maintained and equipped with all modern navigation equipment. There was no indication so far that there was any mechanical damage or electronic equipment malfunctioning.

Nowdays we only hear about ships running aground after suffering severe mechanical damage, usually under gale force weather.

My question to the average people and maritime experts is how such 'stupid' accident really happen?

http://www.abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3014721

Answer 1

Unfotunately the answer is probably a combination of poor seamanship and weather.

The entrance to the harbor of Santorini is a narrow channel surrounded by volcanic reefs.  These reefs while well marked on charts of the area, as well as with buoys and other markers make entering the harbor challenging.

In addition there are reports that it was quite windy as well.  It is possible that the conning officer (the Captain may not necessarily been conning the ship) did not compensate for the effect of the winds and found himself set onto the reef.

There's also reports that this isn't the first time this ship has had issues around Santorini, supposedly the ship also scrapped bottom the week before as well.

These incidents don't happen often - but they do happen, and not just on passenger ships.  However, especially if there is no loss of life these incidents don't necessarily get the attention of the press...

Answer 2

According to the latest news, the captain decided to sail the ship near the small island with the caldera so that the tourists could get better pictures of the volcano and the cliff. That's how the accident happened. I believe he had good intentions but was carried away and underestimated or forgot about the reef.

Despite that, this wouldn't end up in tragedy but the captain tried then to maneuver the ship (to move away from the reef). Unfortunately, this caused structural damage to the ship's keel.

Answer 3

Mab... has a good response.  As a very seasoned cruiser as well a pretty seasoned boater my guess is that the vessel got caught in a cross wind and somehow was not able to counter it.  It appears in the pics that the vessel was very close to the cliff and there may have been a sharp ledge or other rocks.  If the helmsman tried to power off, it is conceivable those rocks could have ripped a hole across several water tight compartments.

The other post is correct.   The winds in the crater are strong and could easily gust to 30kts.  If this were the case, it would indeed be bad seamanship.   I'm sure we will learn more shortly.

How the crew handled it is another issue.  Ive been on 25+ cruises and there is a big difference (as I see it) in how seriously the crew and the line appear to handle safety.  When we had life boat drills on Cunard (QE2) and Carnival the crew was in another world and seemed to care less.  Other lines Ive been on seemed very serious.  Im sure this all is related to the management of the vessel and the cruise line.

Answer 4

http://www.cruisejunkie.com/Aground.html

Cruise liners actually run aground about monthly.

Reasons are many, gps will not do one good if the other factors as in current are not attended towards.   Weather looked very calm, winds moderate, so suspect his speed was perhaps slow and thus he lacked the ability to make any quick corrections.

I have seen nothing on the sailing-nautical websites as to anything special about the harbor.  This is no simple harbor as it is "deep sea" waters, currents could be significant and

as the "Sea Diamond" AKA "Birka Princess" of Finland has

no advanced propulsion jets, well sideways is what happened.

Cruisecritic.com will have the usual marine reports but as it is a Greek liner, well, do not expect much.  

If the hit was further aft it could have been a disaster of well if the fuel and engineering areas were effected the loss of life could have been total.

The support available was also extraordinary as the port is a very busy one and thus had many craft to aid in the rescue. If it was your typical Caribbean port, it would have been again much worse.   There was a costa maya incident a few weeks back where a large liner really dinged its hull, above waterline, after hitting a pier or such.

Answer 5

we are just humans, not machines.........

we make mistakes more often than machines do..............

Answer 6

Excellent question!  Even better, why wasn't alarm system activated to let people know there was an emergency?  Obviously someone wasn't doing their job, that's probably why the Captain has been charged.  This should have NEVER happened and heads should roll.

As a frequent cruiser I'm appalled

Answer 7

Human Error is what caused it, with the assistance of currents. The captain himself stated that.  Santorini is a hugely popular island resort destination and thanks to the locals and the Greek government they were all saved (except two whom were on deck 2 in there cabin close to the impact). All in all, someone will be found responsible for 1. The accident and 2. Time delay in reporting the accident to authorities.