Six local passengers have returned home safely after their Greek
cruise ship hit a volcanic reef and started to sink.
Morgan Hill – Six local passengers have returned home safely after their Greek cruise ship hit a volcanic reef and started to sink.
The passengers were traveling among 49 IBM retirees and their families and friends. They were among 1,545 people aboard the 469-foot ship that hit the reef the afternoon of April 3.
Two French tourists, a 45-year-old man and his 16-year-old daughter, remain missing and the ship’s captain faces charges of negligence.
Greek maritime officials are reportedly trying to contain up to 100 tons of oil that continues to leak from the sunken ship.
The local travelers who have returned include George and Isobel Nale, Randy Ashcraft, Dave and Helen Sloan and Marguerite Sinnet. Additionally, Ida Williams, a former longtime resident of Morgan Hill who’s moved to Danville, was traveling with the group and has returned home safely.
George Nale, 76, organized the 10-day trip. He said many of the travelers were on the top deck of the ship on approach to Santorini, a gorgeous sea-filled caldera formed more than 3,600 years ago in a violent eruption.
When the passengers heard a loud scraping sound, Nale realized something was wrong. Within minutes, the boat was listing.
“It was at 25 to 30 degrees, so you kind of staggered as you walked around,” he said.
Frantic announcements on the ship’s public address system were hard to understand, Nale said, as nervous crew members started the evacuation. Passengers exited the ship on rope ladders, ramps and lowered life boats.
Nale said his colleague Dave Sloan ended up in one of the life boats that was lowered when it got stuck on a ledge sticking out from the cruise ship.
“They couldn’t seem to figure out how to get the boat down,” he said. “They hung there for about 20 minutes.”
Nale said there was a brief moment of panic at first as passengers and crew started grabbing life jackets.
“Then it calmed down quiet a bit, and we were just kind of drifting around the harbor and people were kind of wonder what the hell was going to happen,” he said.
After the evacuation, the ship righted a bit and the passengers thought the crew might be able to retrieve their luggage. But the 49-person group learned the next morning, after arriving in Athens, that the ship had sunk after 12 hours of taking on water.
“So then, everybody started figuring out, Geeze, what did I have?” Nale said.
Luckily, Nale said, the travelers didn’t lose their passports or plane tickets. They had left their passports with customs authorities in Turkey when they boarded the ship.
Despite the misadventure, Nale said he and his wife are looking forward to going on another cruise for their 50th wedding anniversary in October.
“Not a Greek ship, however!” he laughed.
Meanwhile, the Nales are trying to get their life back in order after losing car keys, house keys, bank books and other day-to-day necessities.
