Louis blames ‘bad mapping’ for Sea Diamond hitting reef and sinking

Louis plc and Louis Hellenic Cruises, the owners and operators of the “Sea Diamond”, have blamed incorrect mapping of the coast of Santorini for the cruise ship striking a reef and sinking in April.
The critical reef, at a depth of a mere five metres, was incorrectly shown to be 57 metres off the coast, while in actual fact it was 131 metres off Santorini, right in the middle of the Sea Diamond’s path.
Following reports in the Greek media that the official nautical chart of the Hellenic Hydrographic Office for the area of the accident contained incorrect mapping information, Louis said in an announcement issued on Friday that together with the legal team handling the defense of the Master of the vessel, had requested the services of a specialized company, Akti Engineering, in order to conduct a detailed hydrographic survey of the area.
The chart of the depth of the water at the area of impact varies from 18 to 22 meters, whilst in reality it is only five meters.
The Louis announcement said that the findings suggest that based on the said nautical chart, the vessel was on a safe course during the approach to her assigned mooring position in Santorini and that “the cause of the accident was the erroneous mapping information contained in the nautical chart.”
Louis added that “the results of this new scientific mapping have already submitted to the Hellenic Hydrographic Office of the Hellenic Navy and the other responsible authorities so as to update the naval chart of Santorini and thus avoid any such incidents from occurring in the future.”
The 469-foot Sea Diamond sank shortly before 7 a.m. on April 6, 15 hours after the accident occurred and the ship began listing and taking on water. About 1150 passengers and 300 crew had to be rescued.