Morgan Hill
– The family of a Morgan Hill woman is breathing a sigh of
relief tonight after a cruise ship she was on foundered on a
volcanic reef in the Aegean Sea.
Morgan Hill – The family of a Morgan Hill woman is breathing a sigh of relief tonight after a cruise ship she was on foundered on a volcanic reef in the Aegean Sea.
Longtime Morgan Hill businesswoman Ida Williams escaped with only the clothes on her back after the Greek cruise liner she was aboard struck the reef and sank off the island of Santorini. Navy divers are searching for two missing French passengers after what some witnesses reportedly described as a chaotic three-hour evacuation.
Authorities said 1,547 passengers and crew were rescued on Thursday from the Sea Diamond, a 469-foot-long cruise ship based in Greece.
No injuries were reported during the evacuation, in which passengers climbed down rope ladders into rescue boats.
Williams’ daughter, Judy Lloyd of Gilroy, said her 77-year-old mom phoned Thursday night to say she was OK and at a hotel.
“We’re all really worried,” Lloyd said, adding the family has gathered together to wait for her mom’s safe return. “But we are hoping mom will have some good stories to tell after things settle down.”
Williams, who lost her passport, medication and luggage in the shipwreck, is scheduled to return Saturday, Lloyd said.
Authorities have assured the Williams family she is in no medical danger. Lloyd said she’s comforted by the fact her mom is traveling with a friend who is a physician.
News of Williams’ escape from the doomed cruise ship spread through Morgan Hill Friday.
A former Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce “Woman of the Year,” Williams opened Ida’s Tea Room about 20 years ago on Monterey Road, which later became Ida’s Restaurant. Today she runs the Shadowbrook Gardens Senior Town Homes off Warren Avenue, home to about 30 residents.
Williams recently moved from Morgan Hill to Danville. An avid traveler, Williams left on a nine-day trip March 29. She was traveling with a group of sight-seers that first flew to Paris and then to Athens on March 30 where they boarded a week-long cruise of the Greek Islands.
The Sea Diamond struck rocks Thursday in the sea-filled crater formed by a massive volcano eruption 3,500 years ago off the island of Santorini. Tourists gathered on clifftops to watch the rescue effort at the reef, which is marked with warning lights and clearly indicated on navigation charts. The ship sank about a quarter-mile off the island’s coast, in waters of uneven depth, a few minutes before it was to dock.
The ship’s operator, Louis Cruise Lines, said the Frenchman and his teenage daughter were the only passengers missing, and insisted the 21-year-old vessel had been well maintained.
“The vessel maintained the highest level of safety standards and was equipped with the latest navigation systems,” spokesman Giorgos Stathopoulos said.
The captain and five officers were summoned to appear at a public prosecutor’s office on the island of Naxos to make a formal declaration of their version of events, which is standard procedure in such incidents. No charges have yet been filed, as it remains very early in the investigation.
State-run NET television said that investigators believed most of the damage to the ship’s hull was done before the captain issued the distress signal, when he was trying to maneuver the ship away from the rocks.
Earlier, private vessels siphoned oil from the stricken ship in order to prevent further fuel leakage after a small oil slick appeared.
“The evacuation was orderly and successful. Every decision was taken in a way that would not endanger lives'” Merchant Marine Minister Manolis Kefaloyannis said.
The missing passengers were identified as Jean-Christophe Allain, 45, and his 16-year-old daughter, Maud, from Doue-la-Fontaine.
Divers inspected the sunken ship in search of their bodies.
Minister Fanny Palli Petralia, who spoke with Allain’s wife, said the family’s cabin filled with water when the ship struck the reef.
“We realized there was a serious problem … we exited our cabin and it was tough to be able to walk out of the ship. A lot of people were very emotional over it, upset, very frightened'” said Stephen Johnson, a Canadian tourist who was among the 1,547 passengers and crew rescued.
Passengers on the cruise were mostly American, and also included groups from Canada, Spain, France and the Dominican Republic.
Some of those rescued said they had confused the grinding sound when the ship first hit the rocks with the ship’s dropping anchor. Australian passenger Katie Sumner said the early stages of the rescue were chaotic.
“All of our glasses were sliding everywhere and our warning that the ship was sinking was some of the staff running down the corridor screaming out ‘life jackets’ and banging on doors, so we got no time to, sort of, get ready or anything, we just left as we were.”
The Associated Press Contributed to this story.
