Samina Ferry Disaster Haunts Greece 25 Years Later

The wreck of Samina remains astatine the bottommost of the Aegean Sea. Public Domain

The catastrophe involving the sinking of the ferry vessel Express Samina connected September 26, 2000, disconnected the seashore of Paros which claimed the lives of eighty-one radical inactive haunts Greece.

The ferry remains astatine the bottommost of the Aegean Sea and, contempt authorities promises that the shipwreck would beryllium removed, it is inactive lying astatine the bottommost of the oversea polluting the area.

Express Samina was a French-built rider ferry boat. It was built successful 1966 and during its thirty-four years of work changed galore owners arsenic good arsenic routes successful the Mediterranean Sea.

It was September 26, 2000, when, owned by Greece’s Minoan Flying Dolphins, the ferry vessel near for its way betwixt Paros, Naxos, Ikaria, Samos, Patmos, and Lipsi successful the Aegean Sea.

The ferry departed from the larboard of Piraeus with 533 radical connected board, 472 passengers, and 61 unit members.

Eighty-one radical perished erstwhile Express Samina deed a stone adjacent Paros. Credit: Peter J. Fitzpatrick, CC BY-SA 4.0/Wikipedia

Just aft 10 p.m. section time, Express Samina was approaching the larboard of Parikia connected the island of Paros, with precise beardown winds of 8 Beaufort raging.

Ferry Express Samina placed connected autopilot

The unit had placed Samina connected autopilot and determination were nary unit members watching the ship. Even with autopilot on, modular signifier calls for 1 unit subordinate to ticker the controls to debar collisions with different vessels.

The unit had deployed the fin stabilizers strategy to minimize motions successful inclement weather. Normally, some stabilizer fins would deploy, but, successful this case, the larboard stabilizer fin failed to extend, causing the vessel to drift and truthful not question successful a consecutive line.

The Portes islets disconnected the bay of Parikia which the vessel collided with. Credit:  Templar52/Wikipedia

Two nautical miles disconnected the larboard of Parikia, the vessel deed the reef of Portes islets astatine a velocity of eighteen knots. A ace of astir 3 meters successful magnitude appeared successful the close hull of the ship.

Water flooded the vessel forcing it to rapidly tilt to the close and yet descend wrong conscionable twenty-five minutes, leaving lone a fewer minutes for passengers to prepare.

The archetypal who reached the constituent to assistance were sportfishing boats from adjacent ports, followed by larboard authorities and the British Royal Navy vessels, which were successful the country participating successful a NATO exercise.

Disaster arsenic ferry starts sinking

Neither the exigency generator nor the exigency siren operated, and determination was nary accusation from the portable loudspeakers of the ship. Many radical jumped blindly into the sea, and, arsenic a result, dozens mislaid their lives warring with the waves. In total, eighty-one radical mislaid their lives successful the Samina accident.

Map of the collision people of Express Samina. Credit: Sisyphos23 , CC0, Wikipedia

As a effect of the Samina sinking, Greece’s laws changed, forcing ferries to discontinue aft 30 years alternatively of the erstwhile thirty-five, but these laws were yet relaxed again owed to the aging Greek fleet.

On November 29, 2000, Pandelis Sfinias, the Minoan Flying Dolphins manager, committed termination by jumping retired of his sixth-floor bureau window. He had been charged with transgression negligence and had been the absorption of Greece’s media attraction for the ferry disaster.

Many of the unit members, arsenic good arsenic representatives of the owners, were charged with transgression charges, among which were besides charges of negligence and manslaughter.