MS Express Samina sinking

On September 26 2000, the passenger ferry MS Express Samina struck the Portes islets (referred to as the "Gates of Paros"), two 25-meter (82 ft) high rock formations off the bay of Parikia, 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) from the port of Paros while on a cruise. The impact created two gashes in the ship's hull. It then capsized, killing 80 of the passengers and crew on board. It is the second deadliest ship disaster in Greek history, the first being the 1966 sinking of Iraklion.^[1]

MS Express Samina sinking
MS Express Samina in 2000
Details
Date	September 26, 2000 22:12 PM
Location	Off the coast of Paros, Greece 37.06°N 25.05°E / 37.06; 25.05
Operator	Minoan Flying Dolphins
Owner	Minoan Flying Dolphins
Cause	Collision with rock formation due to human error
Statistics
Passengers	473
Crew	61
Deaths	81 (75 passengers, 5 crew members, including one not on ship)

Passengers and crew

Express Samina was carrying 473 passengers going on a cruise to the Greek island of Paros. She also carried 61 crew which included captain Vassilis Giannakis and first mate Tassos Psychoyios. Express Samina was built in 1966^[2] making it 34 years old, which was well beyond the ship's scrap-by date (the maximum number of years a ship could work across several European countries was 27 years but Greece had extended this to 35 years).^[1]

Incident

Express Samina left the Port of Piraeus in the early evening with a 5-hour journey to the island of Paros. The journey was uneventful for the first two hours until the storm entered a severe storm wh strong winds creating giant waves which tossed the ship back and forth. To counteract the bucking motion created by the waves, the crew deployed the stabilizers at the back of the ship to hopefully create a smoother ride for the passengers.^[3] At 22:12 PM local time, the ship slammed into the Portes islets^[4], creating a giant gash in the top section of the starboard side of the hull. The ship then slammed into the rocks a second time, creating another gash in the bottom section of the hull. Water quickly filled the hull, first filling the bottom gash. The ship began to tip gradually onto her starboard side. When the list of the ship reached 23 degrees, the top gash made contact with the waters' surface, which was the point of no return.^[3] Panic ensued amongst the passengers who quickly scrambled for the lifeboats. Due to the strong winds, the inflatable boats the ship had were blown away easily so the solid lifeboats were the only other option. However, only four out of the 20 lifeboats were deployed due to the extreme list of the ship, preventing additional boats from being launched.^[3] At 23:01 PM (as evidenced by a stopped clock in the control room), the ship sank below the waves.^[3] 80 of the passengers and crew died. In addition, Dimitris Malamas, the port-master who was helping with the rescue operation died of a heart attack due to the stress of the rescue operation, becoming the first fatality of the disaster.^[3]

Investigation

The investigation found several factors that contributed to the disaster and the number of fatalities. The ship's crew became distracted by watching a football match on television and left the ship on autopilot, not monitoring her course.^[3] To stabilize the bucking motion of the ship, they deployed the stabilizers but only deployed one of the ship's stabilizers instead of both, causing the ship to veer to the right and crash into the islets.^[3] The gash at the top of the ship's hull was above the water level which would have posed no problem and a disaster may have been averted.^[3] However, the second impact with the islets caused the stabilizer to slice through the hull which created the second gash which was below the level of the water, causing seawater to rapidly fill the hull.^[3] As well, the gash created was right next to the ship's engine room. The water that filled the engine room shut down the generators, cutting off power to the entire ship.^[3] However, despite all the damage and the water in the engine room, the ship could still have remained afloat. The crew had left the doors between compartments in the ship's hull open (contrary to regulations which states that the compartment doors should remain closed at all times during the ship's operation), allowing water to spread beyond the engine room and into other parts of the ship, causing her to quickly capsize.^[3] Due to the water taking out the generators and with the power cut, the crew could not close the compartment doors.^[3][4] The design of the ferry (a roll on/roll off design with a large compartment for vehicles) also contributed to the ship sinking (ships without this feature are less likely to sink).^[3] The crew's failure to assist the passengers during the evacuation was a contributing factor in the high death toll that resulted.^[5]

Aftermath

After the sinking, responsibility ultimately fell on the company that owned the Samina, Minoan Flying Dolphins and its' owner, Pandelis Sfinias. Sfinias faced criminal negligence and manslaughter charges from the fatalities caused by the disaster.^[1][3] Two months later, Sfinias committed suicide by jumping from the sixth floor of the company office in Athens.^[1][3] The Express Samina's crew members such as the captain and first mate also faced charges of manslaughter and negligence and their failure to aid in the evacuation of the ship.^[3][6] The captain was sentenced to 16 years in prison while the first mate received 19 years.^[6] Other crew members of the Samina and representatives of Minoan Flying Dolphins received lighter sentences.^[6] As a result of the disaster, voyage recorders (similar to an aircraft's black box) were made mandatory in all passenger ferries.^[3] As well, the end of a ship's working life was reduced from 35 to 30 years.^[3]

In popular culture

The accident was featured on season 3 episode 12 of the Canadian television series Mayday titled, "Collision Course".^[3]