22 February 2024 , 12:55
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Locals in a popular Greek holiday spot have warned a sunken cruise ship is a "ticking time bomb".
The MS Sea Diamond ran into trouble off the coast of Santorini in 2007, and all but two of the 1,195 passengers were rescued. Sadly, Jean Allain and his daughter Maud were never found.
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, the Star reports.
Now, the locals have had enough. They've written to the Parliament's Special Standing Committee for Environmental Protection, 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 can cause an incalculable ecological disaster."
Local Loucas Lignos told the Greek Reporter: "What is at stake, in this case, is who will pay for the process; the insurance company does not want to, neither does the ship-owner company and of course everyone is trying to avoid the removal, just as has happened with so many other shipwrecks in the Greek seas."
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The ship is slowly falling apart at the bottom of the sea (REDDIT)A recent study by the Technical University of Crete's Laboratory of Toxic and Hazardous Waste Management found that the ship had "hundreds" of cubic metres of pollutants. These include fuel, battery fluid, copper cables, and lots of dangerous chemicals. They warned that waiting any longer would only cause more harm to the area.
Lignos also said: "I can't say that we currently have tar or petrol oil on our beaches, or that we can't swim, but I do notice oily mixtures surfacing from the shipwreck daily. Someday, the tanks will break open and much more fuel will come out from whatever is inside MS Sea Diamond."
The ship ran aground at 4pm local time on a well-marked volcanic reef and quickly began taking on water. Soon MS Sea Diamond was tilting 12 degrees to her starboard before the ship's watertight doors could be closed.
The 1,153 passengers onboard - most Americans and Canadians - were evacuated within three and 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 were missing.
Due to the large amount of water which had rushed onto the vessel it began to sink a few hundred metres offshore, capsizing before it made its way to the bottom.
The bodies of Jean and Maud were never found. Jean's wife said her cabin filled with water when the ship struck rocks and that she narrowly escaped. Her son was on deck at the time and was evacuated safely. Divers went down to the wreckage five days after the ship sank and explored the family's cabin, but the two bodies were not found.