April 06, 2007	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 17, 1428

ATHENS, April 5: Some 1,600 passengers and crew on board a cruise ship that ran aground on Thursday off the Greek island of Santorini were all safely evacuated after the vessel began listing dangerously.

The 143-metre Sea Diamond, operated by Cyprus-based Louis Hellenic Cruise Lines, hit a reef half a nautical mile offshore as it was preparing to dock and quickly took on a 12 degree list to starboard, officials said.

The vessel’s 1,167 passengers, mostly Americans and Germans, and 400 crew were evacuated to the island port of Thira during a three-hour operation.

A flotilla of fishing boats and other vessels rushed from the island to assist the rescue operation, while the authorities dispatched Greek navy warships and helicopters to the scene.

Television footage showed passengers stepping off the cruise boat and onto a smaller ferry moored alongside.

“The evacuation was merely for safety purposes, there are no injuries among the passengers, and we are flying engineers to the island by helicopter,” said the cruise line company’s spokesman Michalis Maratheftis.

The Sea Diamond was nearing the island port of Thira around 4pm (1300 GMT) when it hit the reef, Louis Hellenic Cruises said in a statement. The cause of the accident has not been clarified.

One passenger, Hassan Ndlini, said there was an atmosphere of panic immediately after the ship ran aground and that it took the crew over 30 minutes to equip all passengers with life vests.

“We were fortunate that the damage was minor ... or we would have had to jump overboard,” Ndlini said.“There was no announcement for around 10 minutes, perhaps more. People were panicking; we did not know what had happened. The crew did what they could, but they were not very well organised,” he said.

Weather conditions were mild, with winds up to 38 kilometres per hour. Three Super Puma rescue helicopters over flew the scene, and three passenger ships sailing nearby provided boats to help, the merchant marine ministry said.—AFP