ACCIDENTS AT SEA – PASSENGERS

Greece, being a country with more than 3000 islands and surrounded by the sea, relies to a great extent on sea transport of passengers and vehicles.

Local passengers’ transport by sea in the course of their every day personal and commercial activities.

Local and foreign tourists use and enjoy sea transport during their holidays. Greek ports are regular destinations or intermediate stopping points of cruise ships that carry thousands of international passengers per year in the course of luxury cruising vacations in the Mediterranean.

Yachts sail in Greek waters carrying passengers in what is intended to be one of the most exciting vacations.

Inevitably and unfortunately accidents happen during these sea carriages, which often cause personal injury and sometimes loss of life.

Pavlakis – Moschos & Associates law firm is expert and proficient in handling personal injury and loss of life claims of Greek and foreign passengers, whether they fall under the European Regulation (EC) 392/2009 on the Liability of Carriers of Passengers by Sea in the Event of Accidents or under the Athens Convention relating to the Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea (PAL) 1974 (File 1, File 2) regime or under the local laws for internal carriage of passengers by sea.

Presentation on the liability of the carrier for cruise liner passengers’ accidents by Silina Pavlakis at the Malaga Annual Conference of Pan – European Organization of Personal Injury Lawyers (PEOPIL) on “Personal Injury in Times of Change” in September 2013. (pdf ).

Illustrative Cases

Sinking of passenger ferry EXPRESS SAMINA near the island of Paros Cyclades, Greece, on September 26, 2000

At 22.20 on Tuesday September 26, 2000, the Greek flagged passenger ferry Express Samina hit a rocky islet and sank 2 km off the coast of the island of Paros. Our firm represented 13 families of deceased passengers and 18 survivors of the tragedy. The claims were pursued in the Piraeus Court of First Instance and the Piraeus Court of Appeal and high compensation awards have been achieved, including a 1,5 million euro award in moral damages to a family for the loss of their 60year old wife, mother and grandmother, and a 2,8 million euro award to another family for the loss of their husband, father, grandfather, father in law, and brother.

Sinking of cruise ship SEA DIAMOND near the island of Santorini, Greece, on April, 5 2007

On April 5, 2007 the Greek flagged passenger cruise ship SEA DIAMOND, grounded, capsized and sank near the island of Santorini when it stuck an underwater reef during maneuvering, during which all passengers except two were fortunately saved. Our firm represents 75 surviving passengers, mainly American and Canadian, before the Greek Courts for their claims for moral damages.

Fire onboard the F/B NORMAN ATLANTIC on 28 December 2014 during the voyage from Igoumenitsa, Greece to Ancona, Italy

A fire broke out in one of the vehicles’ garages onboard the Italian flagged F/B NORMAN ATLANTIC, chartered by a joint venture of the Greek company ANEK, on 28 December 2014. The vessel had departed late in the night from the Greek port of Igoumenitsa and was destined to Ancona, Italy, carrying around 500 passengers and a large number of vehicles. The fire could not be controlled by the ship’s fire fighting equipment. After more than 35 hours of agony, most of the passengers were rescued by helicopters and other ships. Sadly, 19 passengers lots their lives.