(AFP) – Feb 12, 2008

ATHENS (AFP) — Greece will take legal action to force the Cyprus-based owners of a sunken cruise ship near the Greek island of Santorini to pay for pollution cleanup and raise the wreck, the merchant marine ministry said Tuesday.

"This issue tops our agenda until a solution can be found," Merchant Marine Minister George Voulgarakis said in a statement.

The ministry and Santorini authorities will take "every legal measure" to drain the fuel and raise the wreck, the statement said.

The 143-metre (472-foot) Sea Diamond operated by Louis Hellenic Cruises (LHC) sank to a depth of 140 metres (450 feet) after hitting a reef in April. Two French tourists were killed.

The company has so far paid to collect over 300 tonnes of fuel that seeped to the surface and insists there was no harm to the local environment.

But Greece says that "large sections" of the coast near the site were stricken with pollutants and has already imposed a 1.2-million-euro (1.7-million-dollar) fine on LHC, Cyprus's largest tourism and leisure firm.

LHC has warned that any attempt to salvage the ship risks dispersing the remaining fuel on board.

The Sea Diamond originally carried 480 tonnes of fuel.

On Monday, deputy merchant marine minister Panos Kammenos warned the company with arrests and the impounding of assets after a meeting with the island's authorities, the Kathimerini daily said.

He added that the ministry has proposals from companies offering to drain the fuel and raise the wreck.

"The equivalent of a city has sunk there and fuel is still rising to the surface," Santorini deputy mayor Antonis Sigalas told AFP.

"Just the fuel will take between five and seven years to seep out, and who knows about the other chemicals on board," he said.

Santorini's authorities have levelled a separate daily fine on LHC that now exceeds one million euros, Sigalas said.

The island's main docking area has steep underwater cliffs formed by a massive volcanic eruption 3,500 years ago, and warm temperatures in the caldera have kept the fuel from coalescing, the ministry said.

LHC has blamed the accident on a mistake in local nautical charts.

Presenting its own hydrographic survey, the company said that the reef which the ship struck was further from shore and larger than estimated.

The Sea Diamond's captain and five officers have been charged with negligence, breaching international shipping safety regulations and polluting the environment.

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