Greece Fines Company for Sunken Ship Pollution

The owners, operator and captain of a cruise ship that hit the rocks off the island Santorini and sank were fined a total of $1.57m Monday for polluting the Aegean Sea, the AP reported. The Sea Diamond leaked an estimated 300 tons of fuel into the sea since sinking off the island two months ago.

Nearly 1,600 people, most of them Americans, including two dozen students from North Carolina, were evacuated from the Cypriot-owned ship on April 5, but two French tourists are missing and presumed drowned. The Sea Diamond sank the next day, with some 450 tons of fuel and lubricants in its tanks. The ship's owners, Louis Group, operators Louis Cruise Lines and Greek captain Yiannis Marinos were fined for polluting the sea and the coast near the shipwreck and failing to submit a final action plan to pump the remaining fuel from the hulk, the Merchant Marine Ministry said. Source: AP