Ferry sinking like Titanic: Kiwi survivor

By SCOTT INGLIS and AGENCIES

The Greek ferry that sank with the loss of at least 66 lives yesterday was like a ship without a crew in the hours before tragedy struck, say survivors.

Some sailors were watching soccer when the Express Samina, hit rocks off the island of Paros.

Even after the impact, with the ferry in darkness and sinking fast, the crew failed to supervise as the 530 people on board struggled to abandon ship.

Two New Zealand cousins - Katrina Stark, of Auckland, and Sarah Davis, of Wellington - were among the hundreds who jumped for their lives.

Both New Zealanders were sucked under the sinking ferry but emerged unharmed on the other side. Ms Stark then spent a terrifying hour in the water clinging to a piece of decking, while Ms Davis was picked up after about five minutes.

In the sea, they were surrounded by hundreds of other passengers - Australians, Britons, Canadians, Germans, Italians and South Africans, as well as Greeks - screaming for help.

Ms Davis last night told the Herald: "When we got sucked down into the water, that was the scary bit, not knowing if we were going to make it back up."

The 26-year-old said she and her cousin were enjoying the five-hour trip from Athens, despite rough weather, when suddenly the ferry hit the rocks.

They grabbed lifejackets and clung to the deck railings as chaos erupted around them.

The ferry sank in about 20 minutes, sucking them under. They do not know how long they were under the water.

After they resurfaced, Ms Davis said she and Ms Stark yelled to each other.

"The thing was everyone was yelling and screaming in Greek - and we didn't know what they were saying."

Ms Stark last night told One News: "It was basically like the movie Titanic, the big rock, the huge rock just went right past the window. It was like the iceberg in Titanic.

"I managed to get halfway down the ladder and my cousin was a few people behind me, and at that point the boat sank and we got sucked under the boat. Thankfully we popped up out the other side."

Other survivors said no one appeared to be in control of the Express Samina before it hit the rocks - it was like a ship without a crew.

Some seamen were watching a soccer match between Greece's Panathinaikos and Germany's Hamburg when the ship ran aground.

Captain Vassilis Yannakis, his deputy and three crew were arrested and may face manslaughter charges.

After the impact, the ferry was immediately plunged into darkness.

"I heard the cries of a baby in the water. I managed to save it but his mother drowned," survivor George Kioulafis said.

Screams rang through the dark as passengers, some in pyjamas, many trailing weeping children, scrambled up from below, clinging to railings, while, as survivor Effi Hiou describes it, "the ship turned into a slide."

Survivors claim no crew members turned up on deck to supervise an evacuation, and the tradition of women and children first was ignored.

They described how they clung to the topside of the ship wondering how to launch the lifeboats themselves. A few lifeboats do appear to have been launched, but most passengers seem to have ended up in the water, without so much as a lifejacket.

They floundered in the pitch dark, many clinging together round a single lifejacket in the struggle to survive. Around them floated suitcases and belongings.

"Lots of people jumped into the sea," said survivor Andreas Spanos, himself a sailor. "I jumped in, too. I knew the vessel was going to sink once it started listing ... I could hear people screaming in the distance."

Effi Hiou remembers the sheer terror of swimming around in the water with hundreds of others.

"I called out to people in boats: 'Take us as well, help us.' People young and old were calling out. I was swimming, I was trying ... but I was wearing shoes and pyjamas ... Every metre or so I would call for help ... I felt a hand grab my foot. I told them don't pull me, I don't know how to swim very well."

After over an hour in the water she found a plank of wood to cling to.

"Big waves kept coming," she remembers. "We kept swallowing water and we said this will be our tomb."

Eventually, around midnight, she was picked up by a boat, already full of people, "soaked and piled like sheep."

A massive rescue operation swung into gear with a small flotilla of fishing boats rushing to the scene, followed by dozens of other vessels and British Navy helicopters. Their efforts were hampered by gale-force winds.

British helicopters rescued at least 12 people, including two Britons, who were clinging to rocks and took them to the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible for treatment. They were suffering from cold, shock and minor cuts and bruises.

The operation, reinforced by passing British warships, continued through the night.

Greek investigators say they are struggling to explain why the ferry, 34 years old and nearing retirement age, hit a charted islet with a lighthouse, which some officials say only a blind person could have missed.

The Express Samina had sailed from the port of Piraeus, west of Athens, and was approaching the main port of Paros when it ran aground.

It was later due to have sailed to the islands of Naxos, Samos, Ikaria, Patmos and Lipsi.