Louis Hellenic ‘devastated’ by Sea Diamond tragedy

A report in www.cruise-community.com says that Louis Hellenic Cruises MD George Stathopoulos has said the company was ‘devastated’ by the tragic Sea Diamond accident, calling it ‘our best ship’.

He told Seatrade Insider’s www.cruise-community.com , “Our main priority is to locate the two missing passengers and secondly to deal with any pollution from the ship for which we have engaged Piraeus-based specialists, Environmental Protection Engineering”.

Stathopoulos said Sea Diamond, which sank in the early hours of Friday, is lying on a ledge about 150mtr under the water, “and still sliding which is why it is currently unsafe to send anyone down to get inside the ship.”

He added, that the search operation continues in the hands of the authorities, the Greek Coast Guard and Greek Marine Ministry and that the authorities also want to drain fuel and gas oil as quickly as possible to minimise any pollution from the ship, adding, that leakage so far has been ‘very little’ and confirming that EPE had positioned booms around the site.

Greece Marine Minister Manolis Kefaloyiannis has said, “Most definitely there was some human error”.

In the meantime, Louis Hellenic continues scheduled programme, with Stathopoulos saying the company is continuing its three- and four-day Greek islands cruise programme and is moving fast to replace Sea Diamond, adding, “We are in negotiation to find a replacement vessel with similar characteristics.”

He said that the 22,412gt Sea Diamond had 584 cabins and following the accident passengers booked for Sea Diamond were offered alternative arrangements on other ships, adding, “The April 9 sailing went ahead as planned on the same itinerary using Thomson Spirit from our fleet and the same ship will operate the three-day sailing starting Friday.”  

“On April 18, Thomson Spirit will be delivered back to charterer Thomson Cruises for the start of its scheduled summer programme of northern European and Baltic cruises ex-UK.”

He said that from April 16 to 30, Sea Diamond’s programme will be operated by 500-cabin The Emerald, also Louis-owned and that ship will then be delivered to Thomson for its planned summer Med charter, adding, “By April 30 we hope to have arranged a replacement ship so we can continue our published summer programme.”  

Stathopolous said the company had received no cancellations, and reservations continue, adding, “We have had great support from our tour operator partners and travel agents who are all standing by us and we will not let anyone down.”  

Report by The Mole