1 00:00:01,101 --> 00:00:02,636 A ship wreck in the Greek islands. 2 00:00:02,703 --> 00:00:05,138 Hundreds of people fight for survival 3 00:00:05,205 --> 00:00:06,640 in a swirling storm. 4 00:00:08,709 --> 00:00:10,077 We need to help this man! 5 00:00:10,143 --> 00:00:11,278 With their lives on the line, 6 00:00:11,345 --> 00:00:13,180 some people become heroes. 7 00:00:13,247 --> 00:00:14,648 Don't let go! 8 00:00:14,715 --> 00:00:18,352 Others do whatever it takes to stay alive. 9 00:00:18,418 --> 00:00:21,121 Keep her away! She'll kill us both! 10 00:00:22,523 --> 00:00:25,259 Investigators uncover an extraordinary 11 00:00:25,325 --> 00:00:26,460 chain of events. 12 00:00:26,527 --> 00:00:29,963 Small mistakes which have deadly consequences. 13 00:00:30,030 --> 00:00:33,233 Mayday! Mayday! We're doing 90 miles an hour. 14 00:00:33,300 --> 00:00:35,002 Out of control! 15 00:00:37,971 --> 00:00:39,640 Take a life jacket! 16 00:00:39,706 --> 00:00:42,309 - Where's the coast guard? - Don't let go! 17 00:00:52,119 --> 00:00:55,656 A passenger ferry pushes its way through a storm. 18 00:00:55,722 --> 00:00:58,091 What is that?! Whoa! 19 00:01:00,894 --> 00:01:02,062 Oh, my God! 20 00:01:03,263 --> 00:01:05,032 Within sight of land, 21 00:01:05,098 --> 00:01:06,867 this Greek islands ferry is sinking 22 00:01:06,934 --> 00:01:08,902 in high winds and stormy seas. 23 00:01:10,037 --> 00:01:12,272 There was a hole, and it was gonna sink, 24 00:01:12,339 --> 00:01:13,841 and it was gonna sink fast. 25 00:01:14,341 --> 00:01:16,677 A huge rescue operation kicks in. 26 00:01:16,743 --> 00:01:19,446 Rescuers must risk their own lives. 27 00:01:19,513 --> 00:01:21,949 I never want to be in that situation ever again 28 00:01:22,015 --> 00:01:24,818 because it was terrifying. 29 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:29,289 But I had enough time to think this is the part where I die. 30 00:01:31,258 --> 00:01:34,595 It was like a catastrophe, it was as if it was coming 31 00:01:34,661 --> 00:01:36,964 the end of the world for this island. 32 00:01:38,198 --> 00:01:40,901 For the people of Greece, it's a national disaster. 33 00:01:40,968 --> 00:01:43,036 The worst of its kind in 30 years. 34 00:01:44,137 --> 00:01:45,639 Discovering why it happened 35 00:01:45,706 --> 00:01:47,541 will take months of detective work. 36 00:01:47,608 --> 00:01:49,176 And raise this question: 37 00:01:49,243 --> 00:01:51,678 How safe are the ships we sail on? 38 00:02:02,890 --> 00:02:04,825 The Greek capital, Athens. 39 00:02:04,892 --> 00:02:08,161 This great metropolis has a 3,000-year history. 40 00:02:08,228 --> 00:02:10,864 A history built around the city's easy access 41 00:02:10,931 --> 00:02:12,266 to the Mediterranean. 42 00:02:18,038 --> 00:02:20,741 The harbour district of Athens is called Piraeus. 43 00:02:20,807 --> 00:02:22,876 Ferry boats ply back and forth 44 00:02:22,943 --> 00:02:25,746 between here and the more than 200 islands 45 00:02:25,812 --> 00:02:27,915 scattered throughout the Aegean Sea. 46 00:02:27,981 --> 00:02:29,416 For island hoppers, 47 00:02:29,483 --> 00:02:31,652 this is where the adventure begins. 48 00:02:37,357 --> 00:02:39,693 It's here somewhere. It has to be. 49 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:41,228 Heidi, today would be good. 50 00:02:41,295 --> 00:02:42,930 I'm hurrying! 51 00:02:43,397 --> 00:02:44,731 Are you sure you don't-- 52 00:02:44,798 --> 00:02:47,634 Tuesday, September 26, 2000. 53 00:02:47,701 --> 00:02:49,703 Christine Shannon and Heidi Hart, 54 00:02:49,770 --> 00:02:52,005 from Seattle, are close friends. 55 00:02:52,072 --> 00:02:53,807 They've bought tickets for a ferry ride 56 00:02:53,874 --> 00:02:55,209 to the island of Paros 57 00:02:55,275 --> 00:02:58,011 166 kilometres to the south-east. 58 00:03:02,182 --> 00:03:04,551 - Express. Samina? - Express sounds good. 59 00:03:04,618 --> 00:03:05,619 How long's the ride? 60 00:03:05,686 --> 00:03:08,555 Christine's 32, and teaches pre-school. 61 00:03:08,622 --> 00:03:11,892 Heidi's 26, and just graduated from college. 62 00:03:11,959 --> 00:03:13,660 She wants to go into business management. 63 00:03:14,361 --> 00:03:16,463 It's been a crazy kind of day. 64 00:03:16,530 --> 00:03:19,032 They'd planned on going to the island of Santorini, 65 00:03:19,099 --> 00:03:20,334 further south. 66 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:23,370 - I had it? Okay, let's go. - We have to hurry! 67 00:03:23,437 --> 00:03:26,039 I have the tickets! 68 00:03:26,106 --> 00:03:27,841 Always rushing! 69 00:03:27,908 --> 00:03:29,943 We'd been enjoying Athens the night before 70 00:03:30,010 --> 00:03:32,145 a little too much, and we overslept 71 00:03:32,212 --> 00:03:34,348 and missed our Santorini boat. 72 00:03:35,749 --> 00:03:37,317 I had never heard of Paros. 73 00:03:37,384 --> 00:03:38,552 I even asked them, 74 00:03:38,619 --> 00:03:40,354 "Well, show me on a map where the island is." 75 00:03:40,420 --> 00:03:41,822 And, then I said, never mind. It doesn't matter. 76 00:03:41,889 --> 00:03:43,323 Let's just go. It's the next boat. 77 00:03:43,390 --> 00:03:44,791 Let's go somewhere. 78 00:03:44,858 --> 00:03:47,194 So, it was a fluke that we were on that boat. 79 00:03:49,796 --> 00:03:52,165 Here's where chance is steering them. 80 00:03:52,232 --> 00:03:54,468 It could be a whole lot worse. 81 00:03:54,535 --> 00:03:56,403 If you dream of a Greek getaway, 82 00:03:56,470 --> 00:03:58,906 Paros is just what the guide books promise. 83 00:04:07,314 --> 00:04:09,016 Life is laid-back 84 00:04:09,082 --> 00:04:10,951 and the backdrop is enchanting. 85 00:04:11,018 --> 00:04:14,188 Around 12,000 people live on Paros year-round. 86 00:04:19,459 --> 00:04:21,128 In tourist season, 87 00:04:21,195 --> 00:04:24,031 add to that a 100,000 visitors. 88 00:04:24,097 --> 00:04:26,266 Ferries from Athens head for the harbour 89 00:04:26,333 --> 00:04:28,602 in the main town, Parikia. 90 00:04:28,669 --> 00:04:31,939 There's constant traffic back and forth to the mainland. 91 00:04:32,005 --> 00:04:35,309 As one boat's leaving, another one shows up, 92 00:04:35,375 --> 00:04:37,644 bringing hundreds more eager visitors. 93 00:04:43,917 --> 00:04:47,721 Christine and Heidi are among 472 passengers 94 00:04:47,788 --> 00:04:49,122 who board the Samina today. 95 00:04:57,898 --> 00:05:01,301 As they get ready to embark, one thing becomes clear. 96 00:05:01,368 --> 00:05:03,871 Some of the boats on the islands run are modern, 97 00:05:03,937 --> 00:05:05,205 newly built. 98 00:05:05,272 --> 00:05:07,608 But the Samina comes from a different era. 99 00:05:08,442 --> 00:05:12,479 She's been criss-crossing the Mediterranean since 1966. 100 00:05:12,546 --> 00:05:15,749 The Samina was launched before these two were born. 101 00:05:15,816 --> 00:05:17,084 And though they don't realize it, 102 00:05:17,150 --> 00:05:20,220 Greek safety laws say that in a little over a year, 103 00:05:20,287 --> 00:05:22,055 the Samina will be pulled out of service 104 00:05:22,122 --> 00:05:23,891 and sent to the scrapyard. 105 00:05:25,692 --> 00:05:28,228 I made a few jokes to Christine about, 106 00:05:28,295 --> 00:05:30,731 the lifeboats don't look very safe. 107 00:05:30,797 --> 00:05:33,734 If we get into trouble out here, I said, 108 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:34,668 we'll be screwed. 109 00:05:34,735 --> 00:05:35,836 And I said, well, 110 00:05:35,903 --> 00:05:37,871 there's no icebergs in the Aegean. 111 00:05:37,938 --> 00:05:39,106 So, we should be okay. 112 00:05:39,706 --> 00:05:41,808 - Say cheese. - Cheese. 113 00:05:42,609 --> 00:05:45,379 The Samina can carry more than a thousand passengers, 114 00:05:45,445 --> 00:05:47,314 along with her 61 crew. 115 00:05:47,381 --> 00:05:49,783 So today the ship's less than half full. 116 00:05:54,922 --> 00:05:57,758 Katrina Stark and her cousin Sarah Davis, 117 00:05:57,824 --> 00:06:00,260 both from New Zealand, are backpacking. 118 00:06:00,327 --> 00:06:01,228 So that means... 119 00:06:01,295 --> 00:06:02,796 Like Heidi and Christine, 120 00:06:02,863 --> 00:06:04,831 they're literally sailing into the unknown. 121 00:06:07,234 --> 00:06:08,535 We had no plans. 122 00:06:08,602 --> 00:06:11,772 We went to get on the very first ferry that was leaving. 123 00:06:11,839 --> 00:06:13,907 Going wherever it was going to take us, 124 00:06:13,974 --> 00:06:16,243 and that happened to be first stop Paros. 125 00:06:19,146 --> 00:06:21,915 At 7:15, two hours into the journey, 126 00:06:21,982 --> 00:06:23,483 the sun is setting. 127 00:06:23,550 --> 00:06:25,385 There are still three hours to kill 128 00:06:25,452 --> 00:06:27,087 before the Samina arrives. 129 00:06:31,859 --> 00:06:33,861 The sports fans on board, 130 00:06:33,927 --> 00:06:35,462 passengers and crew, 131 00:06:35,529 --> 00:06:38,098 know just how they'd like to spend the time. 132 00:06:38,165 --> 00:06:41,235 There's a major soccer game playing live on TV. 133 00:06:41,301 --> 00:06:43,670 Athens star side, Panathanaikos, 134 00:06:43,737 --> 00:06:46,607 are up against their German rivals, Hamburg. 135 00:06:49,977 --> 00:06:51,278 The reception wasn't very good 136 00:06:51,345 --> 00:06:53,947 and so they had various staff come along 137 00:06:54,014 --> 00:06:56,483 trying to fix the TV, 138 00:06:56,550 --> 00:06:58,886 and everyone was putting suggestions 139 00:06:58,952 --> 00:07:00,854 on how to fix the TV, and it seemed to be quite 140 00:07:00,921 --> 00:07:04,124 important to everybody on board that they get to see this game. 141 00:07:11,164 --> 00:07:14,902 At 8 PM, the Samina passes the island of Kythnos. 142 00:07:14,968 --> 00:07:16,803 They're on schedule to reach Paros 143 00:07:16,870 --> 00:07:18,705 at around a quarter past ten. 144 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:21,041 The wind is rising. 145 00:07:21,108 --> 00:07:22,976 The sea is growing rougher. 146 00:07:23,043 --> 00:07:25,445 But these northerly winds, known as the meltemi, 147 00:07:25,512 --> 00:07:27,581 are frequent at this time of year. 148 00:07:28,182 --> 00:07:30,951 The Samina has weathered conditions much worse than this 149 00:07:31,018 --> 00:07:32,853 over the past three decades. 150 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:34,721 I'm going to take a nap! 151 00:07:34,788 --> 00:07:38,058 Heidi and Christine are the only people left outside. 152 00:07:38,125 --> 00:07:40,694 They think their tickets don't allow them to go in. 153 00:07:40,761 --> 00:07:42,896 Goodnight! Wake me when we're there. 154 00:07:42,963 --> 00:07:44,831 I said, "We have third-class tickets, 155 00:07:44,898 --> 00:07:46,300 we have to stay out on the deck. 156 00:07:46,366 --> 00:07:48,635 It's gonna be a cold, wet, terrible night." 157 00:07:48,702 --> 00:07:51,638 But I didn't even think to go downstairs 158 00:07:51,705 --> 00:07:54,875 where most of the people on the boat were. 159 00:07:58,579 --> 00:08:00,113 For the crew of the Samina, 160 00:08:00,180 --> 00:08:02,449 the night-time journey is routine. 161 00:08:02,516 --> 00:08:04,218 Hazards such as reefs and rocks 162 00:08:04,284 --> 00:08:07,087 are all clearly marked on their charts. 163 00:08:07,154 --> 00:08:08,589 Many have warning lights. 164 00:08:10,858 --> 00:08:13,360 Two jagged outcrops rise from the sea 165 00:08:13,427 --> 00:08:15,562 within sight of the main harbour on Paros, 166 00:08:15,629 --> 00:08:17,130 Parikia Bay. 167 00:08:17,197 --> 00:08:19,633 Known as the Portes, or the Gates, 168 00:08:19,700 --> 00:08:22,769 they lie five-and-a-half kilometres from the town. 169 00:08:22,836 --> 00:08:25,172 For every mariner sailing these waters, 170 00:08:25,239 --> 00:08:27,608 the Gates of Paros are a familiar landmark. 171 00:08:27,674 --> 00:08:30,477 They're welcoming, but dangerous too. 172 00:08:39,119 --> 00:08:42,422 The rocks rise 25 metres out of the sea. 173 00:08:42,489 --> 00:08:45,893 Every passing ship must give them a wide clearance. 174 00:08:45,959 --> 00:08:49,096 At night, a beacon light on the taller of the two rocks 175 00:08:49,162 --> 00:08:51,198 sends a clear warning to sailors. 176 00:08:51,265 --> 00:08:53,700 Stray too close to the Gates of Paros, 177 00:08:53,767 --> 00:08:55,636 and disaster will follow. 178 00:09:07,181 --> 00:09:09,082 They're still two hours away. 179 00:09:13,020 --> 00:09:15,689 But they're sailing into a growing storm. 180 00:09:16,890 --> 00:09:18,225 Despite the weather, 181 00:09:18,292 --> 00:09:20,661 Christine and Heidi are still out in the open. 182 00:09:22,896 --> 00:09:25,832 Had I known we could go to any other part 183 00:09:25,899 --> 00:09:28,535 of the boat at that point in time, I would have. 184 00:09:28,602 --> 00:09:29,937 But I didn't know, 185 00:09:30,003 --> 00:09:32,439 and actually being in that part of the boat 186 00:09:32,506 --> 00:09:34,408 I think was very fortuitous for us, 187 00:09:34,474 --> 00:09:38,378 because we were able to be aware of what was going on later. 188 00:09:41,515 --> 00:09:44,685 Being out on the deck will help save their lives. 189 00:09:44,751 --> 00:09:48,422 Soon everyone aboard will be fighting for survival. 190 00:09:53,227 --> 00:09:56,430 On the evening of September 26, 2000, 191 00:09:56,496 --> 00:09:58,932 the passenger ferry Express Samina 192 00:09:58,999 --> 00:10:02,402 leaves Athens' harbour, Piraeus, heading south-east. 193 00:10:04,671 --> 00:10:06,940 She's making for the island of Paros, 194 00:10:07,007 --> 00:10:09,343 five hours away in the Aegean Sea. 195 00:10:13,780 --> 00:10:16,917 As the sun sets, the weather deteriorates 196 00:10:16,984 --> 00:10:19,887 until by nightfall, the ship is being buffeted 197 00:10:19,953 --> 00:10:21,088 by a northerly gale. 198 00:10:22,289 --> 00:10:24,191 But the crew are used to such conditions. 199 00:10:24,258 --> 00:10:26,593 Their ship is big enough, tough enough, 200 00:10:26,660 --> 00:10:28,428 to survive far worse. 201 00:10:29,196 --> 00:10:31,865 The Samina is 115 metres long, 202 00:10:31,932 --> 00:10:33,400 more than a soccer field, 203 00:10:33,467 --> 00:10:35,102 and 18 metres wide. 204 00:10:36,603 --> 00:10:38,906 Passengers are widely dispersed. 205 00:10:38,972 --> 00:10:41,575 Heidi and Christine are out on the open deck. 206 00:10:43,177 --> 00:10:46,847 Katrina and Sarah are inside the main passenger lounge. 207 00:10:51,318 --> 00:10:54,121 The nerve centre is here, the engine room. 208 00:10:56,056 --> 00:10:57,658 It's below the waterline, 209 00:10:57,724 --> 00:11:01,128 but is protected by a series of watertight doors. 210 00:11:01,195 --> 00:11:02,930 The crew need to move about. 211 00:11:02,996 --> 00:11:05,332 But the ship is safe, so long as they lock the doors 212 00:11:05,399 --> 00:11:06,834 tight behind them. 213 00:11:13,774 --> 00:11:16,410 To reduce the rolling effect of the waves, 214 00:11:16,476 --> 00:11:18,912 the ship also has a stabilizing system, 215 00:11:18,979 --> 00:11:21,715 like small wings that extend out into the water. 216 00:11:23,383 --> 00:11:25,419 It's still a bumpy ride, 217 00:11:25,485 --> 00:11:28,322 but it doesn't stop passengers moving about when they want to. 218 00:11:31,158 --> 00:11:34,828 As we got further away and night began to fall, 219 00:11:34,895 --> 00:11:37,764 the seas got rougher and it became stormy, 220 00:11:37,831 --> 00:11:40,467 until it got to the point where you couldn't even 221 00:11:40,534 --> 00:11:41,702 walk on board, 222 00:11:41,768 --> 00:11:43,971 you had to kind of stumble sideways. 223 00:11:47,441 --> 00:11:49,343 People were kind of laughing. 224 00:11:49,409 --> 00:11:51,411 It was kind of funny at the time. 225 00:11:55,015 --> 00:11:57,384 Being from a place where we ride ferries 226 00:11:57,451 --> 00:12:00,954 quite often, it wasn't really a concern to us at the time. 227 00:12:01,021 --> 00:12:03,123 But it was pretty rough out there. 228 00:12:04,291 --> 00:12:05,959 It's 10 PM. 229 00:12:06,026 --> 00:12:09,396 The wind has now risen to nearly 50 kilometres an hour. 230 00:12:09,463 --> 00:12:12,232 Waves are cresting two metres high. 231 00:12:14,701 --> 00:12:17,571 Despite the gale, visibility is good. 232 00:12:18,572 --> 00:12:20,541 Those are the lights of Paros. 233 00:12:20,607 --> 00:12:22,075 The Samina's on time 234 00:12:22,142 --> 00:12:24,912 and still pushing forward at 33 kilometres an hour. 235 00:12:26,380 --> 00:12:27,447 Then suddenly... 236 00:12:29,650 --> 00:12:32,186 ...the ship lurches sharply to the left. 237 00:12:32,252 --> 00:12:34,121 - What's that? - I don't know. 238 00:12:35,422 --> 00:12:39,226 The boat turned enough that it startled me awake. 239 00:12:39,293 --> 00:12:41,628 I woke up and was kind of dazed a little bit. 240 00:12:42,629 --> 00:12:45,933 You can't just park a boat like you're parking a car. 241 00:12:45,999 --> 00:12:48,869 And so, I though it was odd that I felt this G-force 242 00:12:48,936 --> 00:12:50,237 of the boat turning. 243 00:12:50,304 --> 00:12:52,206 Christine said, "Hey, there's lights. 244 00:12:52,272 --> 00:12:54,908 I see shore, we must be getting pretty close to docking." 245 00:12:54,975 --> 00:12:56,844 The lights of Parikia, 246 00:12:56,910 --> 00:12:59,279 even car headlights, are clearly visible 247 00:12:59,346 --> 00:13:01,515 just five-and-a-half kilometres away. 248 00:13:01,582 --> 00:13:04,251 But then another light cuts through the darkness. 249 00:13:04,318 --> 00:13:05,953 What the...? 250 00:13:06,019 --> 00:13:07,387 Whoa! 251 00:13:10,357 --> 00:13:12,125 Oh, my God! 252 00:13:12,192 --> 00:13:13,794 Oh, my God! 253 00:13:13,861 --> 00:13:16,296 This rock just comes out of nowhere, 254 00:13:16,363 --> 00:13:18,031 just out of the black night. 255 00:13:18,098 --> 00:13:20,133 I'll never forget what it looks like in my mind. 256 00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:23,303 It was this brown, kind of craggily 257 00:13:23,370 --> 00:13:25,138 sandish-looking rock 258 00:13:25,205 --> 00:13:27,875 that had lights on top of it shining down 259 00:13:27,941 --> 00:13:29,209 so it illuminated it. 260 00:13:29,276 --> 00:13:31,912 And it made it look like a movie set. 261 00:13:31,979 --> 00:13:34,915 The side of the boat scraped along the side. 262 00:13:36,049 --> 00:13:38,218 I could have walked over and touched it. 263 00:13:38,285 --> 00:13:41,421 And you could hear down on the lower decks of the boat 264 00:13:41,488 --> 00:13:43,323 that the metal was just ripping apart. 265 00:13:44,057 --> 00:13:46,059 The unthinkable has happened. 266 00:13:46,126 --> 00:13:49,563 The Samina has crashed against the Gates of Paros. 267 00:13:49,630 --> 00:13:53,000 One million kilos of ship grind against the rocks. 268 00:13:53,734 --> 00:13:55,869 It was the worst sound, and it was the loudest sound 269 00:13:55,936 --> 00:13:57,137 I've ever heard in my life. 270 00:13:57,204 --> 00:13:59,673 It sounded like fingernails on a chalkboard, 271 00:13:59,740 --> 00:14:01,475 just, God's fingernail 272 00:14:01,542 --> 00:14:03,076 on the biggest chalkboard in the world. 273 00:14:03,143 --> 00:14:04,511 There was a hole, 274 00:14:04,578 --> 00:14:06,980 and it was gonna sink, and it was gonna sink fast. 275 00:14:08,949 --> 00:14:11,885 The shock wave reverberates through the ship. 276 00:14:12,686 --> 00:14:15,255 Suddenly, there was a big lurch 277 00:14:15,322 --> 00:14:16,657 to the right side of the boat, 278 00:14:16,723 --> 00:14:19,860 and people who were standing up got thrown off their feet. 279 00:14:19,927 --> 00:14:22,429 Everything in the bar smashed. 280 00:14:22,496 --> 00:14:26,567 I looked out the window, and there were two large rocks 281 00:14:26,633 --> 00:14:28,902 we passed that looked white, 282 00:14:28,969 --> 00:14:30,904 lit up by the light inside the ship. 283 00:14:30,971 --> 00:14:32,272 I don't know what that was. 284 00:14:32,339 --> 00:14:35,609 Oh man, it just doesn't sound good, you know? 285 00:14:35,676 --> 00:14:36,877 In a situation like this, 286 00:14:36,944 --> 00:14:39,913 the time frame is so hard to put back together. 287 00:14:42,716 --> 00:14:45,185 But it seemed like maybe a minute or two 288 00:14:45,252 --> 00:14:47,855 until the boat started to noticeably lilt 289 00:14:47,921 --> 00:14:50,123 to the side and tip. 290 00:14:50,190 --> 00:14:54,628 And that's kind of when the chaos started. 291 00:14:58,298 --> 00:14:59,700 We have to get off the ship! 292 00:15:14,214 --> 00:15:17,351 Lots of people were crying. Lots of people were praying, 293 00:15:17,417 --> 00:15:19,520 holding on to each other, yelling. 294 00:15:21,054 --> 00:15:23,757 There was no alarm or siren. 295 00:15:23,824 --> 00:15:26,093 There was no one to tell us what we were supposed to do. 296 00:15:26,159 --> 00:15:29,296 We need to get off this boat and we need to leave right now! 297 00:15:29,363 --> 00:15:30,797 We don't have to panic. 298 00:15:30,864 --> 00:15:31,865 Christine said to me, 299 00:15:31,932 --> 00:15:34,234 "The Titanic took hours to sink." 300 00:15:34,301 --> 00:15:35,702 And I said, "We don't have that much time." 301 00:15:35,769 --> 00:15:37,504 We don't have hours, Chrisine! 302 00:15:37,571 --> 00:15:39,006 We need to leave now! 303 00:15:39,072 --> 00:15:40,407 Okay, okay, okay. 304 00:15:40,474 --> 00:15:42,409 In my mind I thought, 305 00:15:42,476 --> 00:15:45,078 "This boat's gonna sink and we're all gonna die." 306 00:15:49,316 --> 00:15:51,852 All these people were trying to get life jackets. 307 00:15:51,919 --> 00:15:53,854 Being taller, I was able to reach over the heads 308 00:15:53,921 --> 00:15:56,290 of most people who were trying to get hold of life jackets 309 00:15:56,356 --> 00:15:58,292 and grabbed two. 310 00:15:58,358 --> 00:16:00,794 The Samina has 61 crew members. 311 00:16:00,861 --> 00:16:02,029 But where are they? 312 00:16:02,095 --> 00:16:03,797 Passengers must fend for themselves. 313 00:16:04,865 --> 00:16:06,466 I yelled to Christine, "Come here, 314 00:16:06,533 --> 00:16:07,568 I think I found life vests." 315 00:16:08,535 --> 00:16:11,038 Okay, it doesn't open. Just take them out. 316 00:16:12,406 --> 00:16:15,275 At this point people were starting to run past us. 317 00:16:19,646 --> 00:16:21,515 And I was saying, "Here, take these!" 318 00:16:21,582 --> 00:16:24,618 And throwing them out, and people were just panicking. 319 00:16:24,685 --> 00:16:26,553 Take life jackets! 320 00:16:32,593 --> 00:16:34,361 Within minutes of the collision, 321 00:16:34,428 --> 00:16:36,029 the ship's lights go out. 322 00:16:36,096 --> 00:16:37,931 Passengers are plunged into darkness, 323 00:16:37,998 --> 00:16:40,234 until emergency generators kick in. 324 00:16:41,502 --> 00:16:43,303 And then the first flare went off. 325 00:16:46,206 --> 00:16:48,509 This eerie red glow 326 00:16:48,575 --> 00:16:50,244 coming down over the ferry 327 00:16:50,310 --> 00:16:54,147 gave it a whole other feeling of just terror, 328 00:16:54,214 --> 00:16:56,250 that we're out in the night, 329 00:16:56,316 --> 00:16:57,851 in the dark, 330 00:16:57,918 --> 00:16:59,520 and the ferry's gonna sink. 331 00:17:04,958 --> 00:17:06,426 Get out of the way! 332 00:17:07,094 --> 00:17:09,196 At the harbour, port officials are now aware 333 00:17:09,263 --> 00:17:10,864 of the developing crisis. 334 00:17:10,931 --> 00:17:14,001 Port authority vice commander Dimitrios Malamas 335 00:17:14,067 --> 00:17:15,669 starts to organize a rescue. 336 00:17:15,736 --> 00:17:18,038 He needs all available boats right now. 337 00:17:18,105 --> 00:17:21,708 What vessels do we have in the area? 338 00:17:25,245 --> 00:17:29,016 Alexis Bisbas runs a yacht charter business in ParAikia. 339 00:17:30,918 --> 00:17:32,853 The first I heard of the disaster 340 00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:35,055 was a phone call I got from the port police 341 00:17:35,122 --> 00:17:36,190 at about 10:15. 342 00:17:36,890 --> 00:17:38,725 Can I get out there with my boat 343 00:17:38,792 --> 00:17:40,127 as quickly as possible? 344 00:17:40,194 --> 00:17:43,297 Just to help with whatever might be necessary. 345 00:17:43,363 --> 00:17:45,465 There was no way that we had any idea 346 00:17:45,532 --> 00:17:49,436 that it was going to be a disaster of that magnitude. 347 00:17:52,739 --> 00:17:54,308 Paros has a medical centre 348 00:17:54,374 --> 00:17:56,343 equipped for the islanders' basic needs, 349 00:17:56,410 --> 00:17:58,679 not a major disaster. 350 00:17:58,745 --> 00:18:00,614 Doctor John Polyzoides 351 00:18:00,681 --> 00:18:02,883 was an ER surgeon for 35 years. 352 00:18:02,950 --> 00:18:05,652 Though retired, he helps run the centre. 353 00:18:06,854 --> 00:18:09,256 We saw the ship was going down, 354 00:18:09,323 --> 00:18:11,859 and there were a lot of boats and lights and so on, 355 00:18:11,925 --> 00:18:15,262 but I personally did not expect anything tragic 356 00:18:15,329 --> 00:18:17,164 to come out of that, because it was so close 357 00:18:17,231 --> 00:18:18,665 to the harbour. 358 00:18:18,732 --> 00:18:22,135 Aboard the Samina, many of the 472 passengers 359 00:18:22,202 --> 00:18:24,037 are in a state of sheer terror. 360 00:18:24,104 --> 00:18:25,439 It was chaos. 361 00:18:25,506 --> 00:18:27,941 It was people not knowing what to do, 362 00:18:28,008 --> 00:18:31,945 and waiting for a captain or a crew to help us. 363 00:18:34,848 --> 00:18:37,718 There was a woman who went through the door just before us, 364 00:18:37,784 --> 00:18:40,821 and as soon as she got out onto the deck, 365 00:18:40,888 --> 00:18:43,190 she climbed over the railings and just jumped off, 366 00:18:43,257 --> 00:18:45,592 like, didn't look back or didn't say anything to anybody, 367 00:18:45,659 --> 00:18:48,695 and just climbed over and threw herself off into the water. 368 00:18:48,762 --> 00:18:51,498 There were people holding children over the railings 369 00:18:51,565 --> 00:18:54,001 wanting to throw them down to people in the water. 370 00:18:55,002 --> 00:18:57,437 It was quite a terrible scene. 371 00:18:57,504 --> 00:19:00,174 The wind hampers efforts to abandon ship. 372 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:03,577 They were releasing inflatable life rafts, 373 00:19:03,644 --> 00:19:05,179 but they weren't attached to the ship, 374 00:19:05,245 --> 00:19:07,748 so as soon as it was released, 375 00:19:07,814 --> 00:19:09,249 there was a big storm, 376 00:19:09,316 --> 00:19:10,584 it would get picked up by the wind 377 00:19:10,651 --> 00:19:12,119 as soon as it was inflated, 378 00:19:12,186 --> 00:19:15,489 and they were just blowing halfway to Athens. 379 00:19:19,293 --> 00:19:21,562 The rafts blow beyond the reach of many passengers 380 00:19:21,628 --> 00:19:23,497 who've already leapt into the sea. 381 00:19:27,367 --> 00:19:28,769 In the confusion, 382 00:19:28,836 --> 00:19:30,437 Heidi Hart is knocked flying, 383 00:19:30,504 --> 00:19:31,772 striking her head. 384 00:19:32,973 --> 00:19:34,808 Heidi! Are you okay? 385 00:19:35,843 --> 00:19:38,979 I kept thinking, "If I black out now, you know, 386 00:19:39,046 --> 00:19:40,781 I'm done for. This boat's sinking. 387 00:19:40,848 --> 00:19:42,416 I have to stay conscious." 388 00:19:42,482 --> 00:19:44,518 I had this adrenaline rush, 389 00:19:44,585 --> 00:19:48,222 and there was a feeling that I would call terror. 390 00:19:49,423 --> 00:19:53,293 I knew instantly this was gonna be a fight for our lives. 391 00:19:54,461 --> 00:19:57,764 There was some point in time where I literally felt myself 392 00:19:57,831 --> 00:20:00,601 leave my body and instincts kicked in. 393 00:20:01,835 --> 00:20:05,172 Everybody was running to the rear of the boat, 394 00:20:05,239 --> 00:20:07,174 and Christine just looked at me and said... 395 00:20:07,241 --> 00:20:09,109 Go that way, to the front of the boat. 396 00:20:09,176 --> 00:20:11,512 And she said, "But nobody's up there." 397 00:20:11,578 --> 00:20:13,514 It was the darkest part of the boat, 398 00:20:13,580 --> 00:20:16,383 it was the highest part of the boat. 399 00:20:16,450 --> 00:20:17,985 She said, "Nobody's up there." 400 00:20:18,051 --> 00:20:19,319 I said, "I don't care, go." 401 00:20:21,255 --> 00:20:22,990 And luckily for us, 402 00:20:23,056 --> 00:20:24,591 that's where we found a lifeboat 403 00:20:24,658 --> 00:20:26,159 hanging over the side of the ship. 404 00:20:33,333 --> 00:20:36,003 Heidi and Christine have escaped the sinking ship, 405 00:20:36,069 --> 00:20:38,839 but they're still at the mercy of the storm. 406 00:20:41,308 --> 00:20:42,743 When we'd jumped into the lifeboat, 407 00:20:42,809 --> 00:20:44,378 it wasn't orderly, "Here's your seat." 408 00:20:44,444 --> 00:20:45,879 It was, jump. 409 00:20:45,946 --> 00:20:47,614 Where you land is where you are. 410 00:20:47,681 --> 00:20:49,316 And so, we were just kind of all pig-piled 411 00:20:49,383 --> 00:20:51,151 in this lifeboat together. 412 00:20:51,852 --> 00:20:54,555 The battle for survival takes an ugly turn. 413 00:20:54,621 --> 00:20:56,590 Each passenger must decide, 414 00:20:56,657 --> 00:20:58,492 help others or fend for themselves. 415 00:20:59,893 --> 00:21:02,095 There were five or six men in the back of the boat 416 00:21:02,162 --> 00:21:03,664 and they were fighting with each other. 417 00:21:03,730 --> 00:21:05,933 They were yelling at each other. As the ferry was sinking, 418 00:21:05,999 --> 00:21:08,368 they kept pointing at the ferry and fighting with each other. 419 00:21:08,435 --> 00:21:11,238 And this is when I see the guy 420 00:21:11,305 --> 00:21:13,740 swim up to the boat, so I started getting ready. 421 00:21:13,807 --> 00:21:15,275 I'm thinking, "Okay, I need a rope. 422 00:21:15,342 --> 00:21:17,611 I gotta throw him something. He has no life vest on." 423 00:21:19,947 --> 00:21:21,849 We need help here, somebody! 424 00:21:21,915 --> 00:21:23,584 Get up, get up! 425 00:21:23,650 --> 00:21:26,687 Help us, would you?! To grab him! 426 00:21:26,753 --> 00:21:29,256 The only thing you could see was his eyes and his nose 427 00:21:29,323 --> 00:21:31,792 coming out of the water, and he was just barely making it, 428 00:21:31,859 --> 00:21:32,793 swimming towards us. 429 00:21:32,860 --> 00:21:35,095 Everybody else on the boat was yelling, 430 00:21:35,162 --> 00:21:37,030 "No, no, we can't take any more people on." 431 00:21:37,097 --> 00:21:40,133 I've got you, don't worry! I've got you! 432 00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:42,002 Heidi leaned over and grabbed 433 00:21:42,069 --> 00:21:43,737 this gentleman's hand, 434 00:21:43,804 --> 00:21:46,139 and I reached over and grabbed her by the waist, 435 00:21:46,206 --> 00:21:48,308 and she told me, "I'm not letting go." 436 00:21:48,375 --> 00:21:49,743 And I yelled to the other people, 437 00:21:49,810 --> 00:21:51,178 "She's not letting go." 438 00:21:51,245 --> 00:21:53,547 He had taken off almost all of his clothes, 439 00:21:53,614 --> 00:21:55,382 he was wearing just his underwear. 440 00:21:55,449 --> 00:21:56,850 Somebody grab him! 441 00:21:56,917 --> 00:21:59,520 We need some help! We need to help this man! 442 00:22:00,621 --> 00:22:04,258 I'm not a very big person, I'm five-feet tall. 443 00:22:04,992 --> 00:22:07,995 Just me trying to pull him in the boat wasn't gonna work. 444 00:22:09,162 --> 00:22:10,631 That's it! 445 00:22:11,698 --> 00:22:13,600 The men in the lifeboat realize 446 00:22:13,667 --> 00:22:15,302 that Heidi won't let go, 447 00:22:15,369 --> 00:22:18,572 and finally help haul the drowning man on board. 448 00:22:18,639 --> 00:22:20,240 I don't know what they were thinking, 449 00:22:20,307 --> 00:22:21,475 they were panicking. 450 00:22:22,142 --> 00:22:24,745 So, who am I to judge 451 00:22:24,811 --> 00:22:26,780 what other people were thinking and doing? 452 00:22:26,847 --> 00:22:28,115 But... 453 00:22:30,350 --> 00:22:32,619 There was a lot more that could have been done that night. 454 00:22:34,555 --> 00:22:38,091 Of the 533 people who set out on the Samina, 455 00:22:38,158 --> 00:22:39,927 many are now in the sea. 456 00:22:39,993 --> 00:22:42,496 Others are still trapped on the vessel itself. 457 00:22:44,398 --> 00:22:46,600 The ship begins to roll over. 458 00:22:46,667 --> 00:22:47,868 If it goes down, 459 00:22:47,935 --> 00:22:50,437 dozens of people will be dragged down with it. 460 00:22:56,543 --> 00:22:57,644 Oh, my God! 461 00:22:57,711 --> 00:22:59,546 The passenger ferry Express Samina 462 00:22:59,613 --> 00:23:01,849 has struck rocks near the island of Paros, 463 00:23:01,915 --> 00:23:03,584 in the Aegean Sea. 464 00:23:03,650 --> 00:23:05,686 533 passengers and crew 465 00:23:05,752 --> 00:23:09,223 face a battle to survive in high winds and stormy seas. 466 00:23:12,459 --> 00:23:14,628 Some people have managed to clamber into a lifeboat. 467 00:23:15,829 --> 00:23:17,130 Others have stayed with the ship, 468 00:23:17,197 --> 00:23:19,499 and now fear it will sink beneath them. 469 00:23:20,467 --> 00:23:21,935 At that stage, we were on the deck 470 00:23:22,002 --> 00:23:24,304 trying to figure out whether it was a good idea 471 00:23:24,371 --> 00:23:26,874 to jump overboard as well, 472 00:23:26,940 --> 00:23:28,842 but we were tilting further and further 473 00:23:28,909 --> 00:23:31,545 and it was getting to the point where we didn't really 474 00:23:31,612 --> 00:23:32,646 have that choice anymore. 475 00:23:35,716 --> 00:23:36,817 It's 10:50. 476 00:23:36,884 --> 00:23:38,752 40 minutes after the collision. 477 00:23:39,486 --> 00:23:40,954 Sarah! 478 00:23:42,055 --> 00:23:43,190 Are you being me? 479 00:23:43,257 --> 00:23:45,325 As the Samina continues to roll, 480 00:23:45,392 --> 00:23:47,561 Katrina Stark has little choice. 481 00:23:47,628 --> 00:23:49,630 She hauls herself over the rail. 482 00:23:55,702 --> 00:23:58,338 The ship has turned completely on its side. 483 00:23:58,405 --> 00:24:00,841 Katrina is sitting on the hull. 484 00:24:00,908 --> 00:24:02,242 Should she try to swim for shore 485 00:24:02,309 --> 00:24:03,710 or wait for rescue? 486 00:24:05,112 --> 00:24:07,681 While I was sitting there thinking about that... 487 00:24:09,483 --> 00:24:11,251 all of a sudden, 488 00:24:11,318 --> 00:24:13,287 the ship just sank underneath us 489 00:24:13,353 --> 00:24:16,423 and sucked us down, and everything around it. 490 00:24:20,327 --> 00:24:22,696 I don't know how much time we were under the water, 491 00:24:22,763 --> 00:24:24,865 but I had enough time to think, okay, well this is the part 492 00:24:24,932 --> 00:24:27,000 where I die, this is the part where I drown. 493 00:24:27,067 --> 00:24:29,036 I kind of thought, well, okay, that's fine. 494 00:24:29,102 --> 00:24:32,005 And had enough time to be okay with that. 495 00:24:33,941 --> 00:24:35,475 Just as we got there, 496 00:24:35,542 --> 00:24:38,445 we saw the ferry sinking, 497 00:24:38,512 --> 00:24:40,547 which was... 498 00:24:41,748 --> 00:24:43,483 ...an extreme sight. 499 00:24:43,550 --> 00:24:46,253 To see this entire ship 500 00:24:46,320 --> 00:24:48,288 sink beneath the waves 501 00:24:48,355 --> 00:24:50,757 and to be gone, 502 00:24:50,824 --> 00:24:53,460 and just leave us in our little lifeboat, 503 00:24:53,527 --> 00:24:55,095 it was amazing. 504 00:24:55,162 --> 00:24:59,233 It was almost beautiful in a sad sort of way. 505 00:24:59,299 --> 00:25:02,569 And then complete blackness, darkness. 506 00:25:02,636 --> 00:25:03,871 Huge waves. 507 00:25:08,909 --> 00:25:11,678 The Samina sinks two-and-a-half kilometres 508 00:25:11,745 --> 00:25:13,046 from the Gates of Paros. 509 00:25:13,113 --> 00:25:14,915 Even without its engines, 510 00:25:14,982 --> 00:25:17,484 wind, waves, and the ship's own momentum 511 00:25:17,551 --> 00:25:19,520 carried the Samina closer to shore. 512 00:25:21,088 --> 00:25:24,191 The sea here is 38 metres deep. 513 00:25:24,258 --> 00:25:25,893 As the Samina goes down, 514 00:25:25,959 --> 00:25:28,262 huge bubbles of air escape from the ship, 515 00:25:28,328 --> 00:25:30,330 making the water less dense, 516 00:25:30,397 --> 00:25:33,000 making objects in the water sink more quickly. 517 00:25:34,768 --> 00:25:36,803 Katrina Stark sinks several metres 518 00:25:36,870 --> 00:25:38,505 before the buoyancy of her life jacket 519 00:25:38,572 --> 00:25:40,040 pulls her up again. 520 00:25:41,308 --> 00:25:44,077 As suddenly as I had been sucked under, 521 00:25:44,144 --> 00:25:46,313 suddenly I popped out the top. 522 00:25:46,580 --> 00:25:48,015 Sarah! 523 00:25:48,081 --> 00:25:50,717 Her priority now is to find her cousin, Sarah. 524 00:25:50,784 --> 00:25:53,253 In the storm, she can't tell where she is. 525 00:25:55,055 --> 00:25:58,458 The waves were so big that for one second, 526 00:25:58,525 --> 00:26:00,127 it sounded like she was over there, 527 00:26:00,194 --> 00:26:02,329 and so I tried to swim that way. And then the next second, 528 00:26:02,396 --> 00:26:03,630 it sounded like she's over there, 529 00:26:03,697 --> 00:26:04,932 I tried to swim that way. 530 00:26:04,998 --> 00:26:06,033 Sarah! 531 00:26:06,099 --> 00:26:07,267 Sarah! 532 00:26:08,268 --> 00:26:10,771 I can hear you, but I can't see you! 533 00:26:10,838 --> 00:26:13,140 Sarah! Sarah! 534 00:26:13,207 --> 00:26:15,275 Eventually I just said to her, okay, 535 00:26:15,342 --> 00:26:18,245 make sure you get on a boat and get back to land, 536 00:26:18,312 --> 00:26:20,247 and I will see you back on shore. 537 00:26:27,955 --> 00:26:29,690 At 11:15 PM, 538 00:26:29,756 --> 00:26:32,893 Dr. Polyzoides receives his first casualty of the night. 539 00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:35,195 But something doesn't add up. 540 00:26:35,262 --> 00:26:37,297 They brought a man on a stretcher. 541 00:26:37,364 --> 00:26:39,132 He was semi-conscious, 542 00:26:39,199 --> 00:26:41,435 and when we started working on him, 543 00:26:41,502 --> 00:26:43,504 he had hardly any blood pressure. 544 00:26:43,570 --> 00:26:45,272 And when we were resuscitating him, 545 00:26:45,339 --> 00:26:48,141 I realized that he was dry, 546 00:26:48,208 --> 00:26:50,677 which meant that he didn't actually... 547 00:26:50,744 --> 00:26:52,312 He was not from the ship. 548 00:26:57,417 --> 00:26:59,019 Anyway, we carried on. 549 00:26:59,086 --> 00:27:00,320 Eventually, we lost him. 550 00:27:00,387 --> 00:27:01,889 He died in our hands, 551 00:27:01,955 --> 00:27:04,858 and then people came and said, you know who it was? 552 00:27:04,925 --> 00:27:06,326 And I said no. 553 00:27:06,393 --> 00:27:08,562 His patient isn't from the Samina, 554 00:27:08,629 --> 00:27:11,865 but the disaster still claims its first victim. 555 00:27:11,932 --> 00:27:14,067 The man is Dimitrios Malamas 556 00:27:14,134 --> 00:27:16,136 who had been helping organize the rescue. 557 00:27:16,203 --> 00:27:18,906 In the crisis, he'd suffered a heart attack. 558 00:27:18,972 --> 00:27:20,741 He was 40 years old. 559 00:27:22,009 --> 00:27:23,143 So you can understand 560 00:27:23,210 --> 00:27:24,478 even at this early stage, 561 00:27:24,545 --> 00:27:27,514 although we did not know the number of people 562 00:27:27,581 --> 00:27:29,316 that we were going to lose, 563 00:27:29,383 --> 00:27:32,252 there was that sense of tragedy immediately 564 00:27:32,319 --> 00:27:33,687 from the very beginning. 565 00:27:34,555 --> 00:27:36,823 A local shopkeeper, George Skandalis, 566 00:27:36,890 --> 00:27:38,392 grabs his video camera 567 00:27:38,458 --> 00:27:40,627 and captures these first raw images 568 00:27:40,694 --> 00:27:42,429 as survivors begin to appear. 569 00:27:43,597 --> 00:27:45,832 As soon as we got close enough to shore, 570 00:27:45,899 --> 00:27:49,536 when I saw this white cathedral 571 00:27:49,603 --> 00:27:51,071 with a blue-domed top, 572 00:27:51,138 --> 00:27:53,473 that was when I finally knew we made it. 573 00:27:53,540 --> 00:27:55,843 We're gonna get to shore, we're gonna be alive. 574 00:28:04,585 --> 00:28:08,388 I felt more alive than I've ever felt in my life. 575 00:28:08,455 --> 00:28:10,190 Giddy, almost giddy. 576 00:28:11,725 --> 00:28:13,327 And actually afterwards, 577 00:28:13,393 --> 00:28:15,929 one of the things that I had to come to terms with 578 00:28:15,996 --> 00:28:21,168 was that people died and I felt so alive. 579 00:28:23,203 --> 00:28:25,839 One of the local fishing boats now appears, 580 00:28:25,906 --> 00:28:28,408 crowded with people who've been dragged from the sea. 581 00:28:30,377 --> 00:28:32,613 Local boat owner Alexis Bisbas 582 00:28:32,679 --> 00:28:35,415 is part of the rescue flotilla, searching for survivors. 583 00:28:38,519 --> 00:28:41,655 One minute we were flying across the top of a wave. 584 00:28:41,722 --> 00:28:44,258 The next minute we were burying the bow of the boat 585 00:28:44,324 --> 00:28:46,193 into the previous wave. 586 00:28:46,260 --> 00:28:49,096 We had water coming across the decks. 587 00:28:49,162 --> 00:28:51,231 I've been sailing all my life. 588 00:28:51,298 --> 00:28:53,534 I've never had a situation like that. 589 00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:55,903 I never want to be in that situation ever again 590 00:28:56,803 --> 00:28:59,506 because it was terrifying. 591 00:29:01,074 --> 00:29:03,877 He plucks 25 people from the sea 592 00:29:03,944 --> 00:29:06,413 in three trips out into the stormy waters. 593 00:29:08,615 --> 00:29:10,584 One of the amazing things in these situations 594 00:29:10,651 --> 00:29:12,052 is the way that people behave. 595 00:29:12,119 --> 00:29:14,121 A young guy that we pulled out 596 00:29:14,188 --> 00:29:16,223 was still carrying his portable stereo system, 597 00:29:16,290 --> 00:29:18,859 so the one hand is trying to grab hold of the boat, 598 00:29:18,926 --> 00:29:20,661 and the other hand, as we realized, 599 00:29:20,727 --> 00:29:23,397 was being hampered by this stereo system 600 00:29:23,463 --> 00:29:26,066 that he still had in his other hand. 601 00:29:31,805 --> 00:29:35,275 One of them was an old lady who had tied to her life jacket, 602 00:29:35,342 --> 00:29:38,912 her bag, and as we were trying to drag her into the boat, 603 00:29:38,979 --> 00:29:41,315 we realized that something was stopping her. 604 00:29:41,381 --> 00:29:44,184 And I went to cut 605 00:29:44,251 --> 00:29:46,353 her free of this bag, 606 00:29:46,420 --> 00:29:48,355 and she said to us that if we did, 607 00:29:48,422 --> 00:29:50,057 we should throw her back, because that was 608 00:29:50,123 --> 00:29:52,326 her entire life in this bag. 609 00:29:55,028 --> 00:29:57,564 Many survivors are in a state of shock. 610 00:29:57,631 --> 00:30:00,534 All are cold, wet, and exhausted. 611 00:30:06,039 --> 00:30:07,708 Just a few hundred metres away, 612 00:30:07,774 --> 00:30:10,110 dozens of people are still in the water 613 00:30:10,177 --> 00:30:11,778 trying to stay alive until they're spotted 614 00:30:11,845 --> 00:30:13,313 by a rescue boat. 615 00:30:16,149 --> 00:30:18,485 Katrina Stark and a fellow survivor, 616 00:30:18,552 --> 00:30:19,887 a total stranger, 617 00:30:19,953 --> 00:30:22,289 are now clinging desperately to a piece of wreckage. 618 00:30:23,090 --> 00:30:25,025 My first surprise about being in the water 619 00:30:25,092 --> 00:30:26,426 was that it was warm. 620 00:30:26,493 --> 00:30:28,395 I was really expecting the water to be cold. 621 00:30:32,299 --> 00:30:34,701 There were big waves, and you just had to cling on 622 00:30:34,768 --> 00:30:36,370 tight to the piece of wreckage. 623 00:30:44,945 --> 00:30:47,948 Not too far away from us was an older Greek woman 624 00:30:48,015 --> 00:30:49,149 who couldn't swim. 625 00:30:49,883 --> 00:30:52,586 And she was panicking, 626 00:30:52,653 --> 00:30:55,055 and screaming and yelling, 627 00:30:55,122 --> 00:30:56,990 trying to get someone to come and save her. 628 00:30:57,057 --> 00:30:58,325 Hold on! 629 00:30:58,392 --> 00:31:00,093 We have to save her! 630 00:31:01,528 --> 00:31:03,697 And the guy that I was with was saying 631 00:31:03,764 --> 00:31:05,365 she's going to want to come over to us, 632 00:31:05,432 --> 00:31:08,402 and if she grabs hold of us, she's going to drag us down. 633 00:31:09,436 --> 00:31:12,039 Keep her away! She'll kill us both! 634 00:31:14,575 --> 00:31:18,478 She had kind of wild eyes, like she was clearly panicking, 635 00:31:18,545 --> 00:31:22,382 and a big wave came 636 00:31:22,449 --> 00:31:24,852 and washed over her, and she didn't come back up 637 00:31:24,918 --> 00:31:27,621 out of the water. She had drowned. 638 00:31:33,861 --> 00:31:36,230 There are still some signs of hope. 639 00:31:36,296 --> 00:31:39,566 Some people have been pushed south by the wind. 640 00:31:39,633 --> 00:31:42,736 Miraculously avoiding being smashed onto the rocks, 641 00:31:42,803 --> 00:31:44,838 they've wound up on a sandy beach, 642 00:31:44,905 --> 00:31:46,440 the bay of St. Irene. 643 00:31:46,507 --> 00:31:49,009 A life raft beaches in the same spot. 644 00:32:07,027 --> 00:32:08,495 They're safe now, 645 00:32:08,562 --> 00:32:10,731 but the terror these little children have gone through 646 00:32:10,797 --> 00:32:12,299 is hard to comprehend. 647 00:32:15,569 --> 00:32:19,239 More than 400 survivors have now wound up on the dockside. 648 00:32:22,376 --> 00:32:25,679 Many have suffered a terrifying ordeal in the water. 649 00:32:25,746 --> 00:32:27,915 They're rushed to the medical centre, 650 00:32:27,981 --> 00:32:29,683 where Dr. Polyzoides has now assembled 651 00:32:29,750 --> 00:32:31,518 a team of 15 medics. 652 00:32:31,585 --> 00:32:33,987 Some doctors and nurses based on the island, 653 00:32:34,054 --> 00:32:36,690 others, tourists who've come in to assist. 654 00:32:40,027 --> 00:32:43,197 Between 11:30 and 12, 655 00:32:43,263 --> 00:32:45,332 the first drowned 656 00:32:45,399 --> 00:32:47,100 was brought in on a stretcher. 657 00:32:47,968 --> 00:32:50,070 And although I worked for 35 years 658 00:32:50,137 --> 00:32:52,139 as an accident surgeon, 659 00:32:52,206 --> 00:32:54,875 it was a horrible experience. 660 00:32:54,942 --> 00:32:58,212 That was the beginning of the horrific feeling 661 00:32:58,278 --> 00:33:01,448 which I had, that this is serious now. 662 00:33:03,584 --> 00:33:06,553 At midnight, after an hour in the water, 663 00:33:06,620 --> 00:33:08,689 Katrina Stark is brought to shore. 664 00:33:08,755 --> 00:33:10,891 We were the last people that they were able 665 00:33:10,958 --> 00:33:12,960 to bring up onto the boat. 666 00:33:13,861 --> 00:33:17,197 They headed back for the harbour, 667 00:33:17,264 --> 00:33:19,833 and on the way, they stopped a couple of times 668 00:33:19,900 --> 00:33:22,603 to pick people up, 669 00:33:22,669 --> 00:33:24,505 but they would go to pick them up 670 00:33:24,571 --> 00:33:26,673 and realize that they were dead, and so they'd just leave them 671 00:33:26,740 --> 00:33:27,908 where they were. 672 00:33:29,510 --> 00:33:32,045 Katrina doesn't know if her cousin made it. 673 00:33:34,481 --> 00:33:35,382 Sarah? 674 00:33:36,116 --> 00:33:37,184 Katrina! 675 00:33:38,085 --> 00:33:39,453 I have never been so happy 676 00:33:39,520 --> 00:33:40,821 to see anybody in my whole life. 677 00:33:40,888 --> 00:33:42,523 How did you get here? 678 00:33:42,589 --> 00:33:44,124 And I just grabbed hold of her, 679 00:33:44,191 --> 00:33:45,692 and I wouldn't leave her side for a second. 680 00:33:45,759 --> 00:33:46,960 I'm so happy to see you. 681 00:33:49,296 --> 00:33:51,331 Are you okay? Are you keeping warm? 682 00:33:51,398 --> 00:33:52,799 Yeah. 683 00:33:52,866 --> 00:33:55,002 It was terrifying. It's been five years 684 00:33:55,068 --> 00:33:57,404 since the accident, and I still have nightmares, 685 00:33:57,471 --> 00:33:59,106 I still think about it. 686 00:33:59,173 --> 00:34:01,542 It will still make me cry. 687 00:34:03,243 --> 00:34:06,980 It was traumatic and it was very scary, 688 00:34:07,047 --> 00:34:08,749 but it was also 689 00:34:08,815 --> 00:34:11,585 a singularly defining moment in my life 690 00:34:11,652 --> 00:34:14,888 where I was able to use all of the resources 691 00:34:14,955 --> 00:34:16,523 I had to survive. 692 00:34:19,193 --> 00:34:20,727 Pull, pull, pull! 693 00:34:20,794 --> 00:34:23,030 I don't think I would have chosen not to live through this. 694 00:34:29,136 --> 00:34:30,771 At half-past midnight, 695 00:34:30,838 --> 00:34:33,073 more than two hours after the collision, 696 00:34:33,140 --> 00:34:35,475 the rescue operation is becoming more and more 697 00:34:35,542 --> 00:34:37,010 a search for bodies. 698 00:34:37,077 --> 00:34:39,580 When you start seeing the bodies in the sea, 699 00:34:39,646 --> 00:34:42,216 somebody that I knew that an hour ago, 700 00:34:42,282 --> 00:34:45,886 they were breathing, and suddenly they're dead, 701 00:34:45,953 --> 00:34:47,087 and they're... 702 00:34:48,155 --> 00:34:49,623 It was very distressing. 703 00:34:51,525 --> 00:34:54,061 It took me a very long time 704 00:34:54,127 --> 00:34:55,762 to put it out of my mind. 705 00:34:57,497 --> 00:34:58,899 It was very difficult. 706 00:34:58,966 --> 00:35:01,835 Twenty-five people are now confirmed dead. 707 00:35:01,902 --> 00:35:04,238 As victims continue to arrive, 708 00:35:04,304 --> 00:35:06,607 Dr. Polyzoides is overwhelmed. 709 00:35:07,875 --> 00:35:10,944 Do I go to this room and try and save someone? 710 00:35:11,011 --> 00:35:14,414 Do I wait and see whether he's worth saving? 711 00:35:14,481 --> 00:35:16,350 And it was like a catastrophe, 712 00:35:16,416 --> 00:35:18,986 it was as if it was coming the end of the world 713 00:35:19,052 --> 00:35:20,354 for this island. 714 00:35:20,420 --> 00:35:23,123 So it was almost like you're seeing a movie, 715 00:35:23,190 --> 00:35:24,558 it's not happening to you. 716 00:35:25,192 --> 00:35:28,262 Every half an hour, the number of bodies increased. 717 00:35:28,328 --> 00:35:32,299 By 2:30 AM, the number of dead reaches 60. 718 00:35:32,366 --> 00:35:35,536 There's no room for so many bodies in the medical centre. 719 00:35:36,069 --> 00:35:38,071 The church of St. Nicholas on the waterfront 720 00:35:38,138 --> 00:35:40,207 now becomes a temporary morgue. 721 00:35:42,543 --> 00:35:44,878 The search for people, alive or dead, 722 00:35:44,945 --> 00:35:46,747 continues right through the night. 723 00:35:50,284 --> 00:35:54,121 Very soon, investigators will begin to ask tough questions. 724 00:35:54,188 --> 00:35:56,323 Who is to blame for the sinking? 725 00:35:56,390 --> 00:35:58,892 Why did so many people have to die? 726 00:36:03,664 --> 00:36:05,966 The passenger ferry Express Samina 727 00:36:06,033 --> 00:36:08,535 has sunk in a storm in the Aegean Sea. 728 00:36:08,602 --> 00:36:11,104 Already 60 people are confirmed dead. 729 00:36:11,171 --> 00:36:13,407 Many more need medical treatment. 730 00:36:16,810 --> 00:36:20,147 Morning reveals the power of last night's storm. 731 00:36:21,849 --> 00:36:24,852 A lifeboat lies smashed to pieces on the rocks. 732 00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:29,957 Life rafts blew away, empty. 733 00:36:32,292 --> 00:36:34,127 A message board at the harbour front 734 00:36:34,194 --> 00:36:36,864 lists who's alive and who's still missing. 735 00:36:37,698 --> 00:36:41,268 Bodies will continue to wash up on the beaches for days to come. 736 00:36:43,403 --> 00:36:46,073 There are not enough coffins on Paros. 737 00:36:46,139 --> 00:36:47,674 More arrive. 738 00:36:47,741 --> 00:36:49,943 Even the most experienced professionals 739 00:36:50,010 --> 00:36:51,678 are touched by the trauma. 740 00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:56,216 I was so shaken by this that I didn't sleep 741 00:36:56,283 --> 00:36:58,619 for two nights, and on the third night 742 00:36:58,685 --> 00:37:00,320 when I went to sleep, 743 00:37:00,387 --> 00:37:02,489 I dreamt that my son was drowning. 744 00:37:03,624 --> 00:37:06,527 Very quickly, the grief turns to anger. 745 00:37:06,593 --> 00:37:09,363 Where were the crew when the ship hit the rocks? 746 00:37:09,429 --> 00:37:12,466 Where were they when the passengers needed help? 747 00:37:12,533 --> 00:37:14,601 Rumours spread like wildfire 748 00:37:14,668 --> 00:37:16,203 and are picked up by the media. 749 00:37:20,274 --> 00:37:23,610 Were some members of the crew watching the soccer game on TV 750 00:37:23,677 --> 00:37:25,979 when they should have been steering the ship? 751 00:37:28,048 --> 00:37:31,552 The captain, 53-year-old Vassilis Yannakos, 752 00:37:31,618 --> 00:37:33,287 is held for questioning by the police. 753 00:37:36,490 --> 00:37:39,026 On Paros, the funerals begin. 754 00:37:39,092 --> 00:37:42,529 Here, a four-year-old boy, drowned with his father. 755 00:37:44,498 --> 00:37:46,300 Divers discover 10 bodies 756 00:37:46,366 --> 00:37:48,635 trapped inside the hull of the Samina. 757 00:37:50,070 --> 00:37:52,139 The last body is found floating 758 00:37:52,206 --> 00:37:53,907 two weeks after the sinking, 759 00:37:53,974 --> 00:37:56,743 50 kilometres north of Paros. 760 00:37:56,810 --> 00:37:59,012 Altogether, 80 people have died. 761 00:37:59,079 --> 00:38:02,449 75 passengers, five crew members. 762 00:38:02,516 --> 00:38:04,885 This is Greece's worst shipping disaster 763 00:38:04,952 --> 00:38:06,553 in more than 30 years. 764 00:38:06,620 --> 00:38:08,355 A national tragedy. 765 00:38:10,257 --> 00:38:11,859 In the bitter aftermath, 766 00:38:11,925 --> 00:38:13,393 the spotlight falls on the company 767 00:38:13,460 --> 00:38:16,129 which owned the Samina, and its vice president, 768 00:38:16,196 --> 00:38:17,764 Pantelis Sfinias. 769 00:38:17,831 --> 00:38:19,666 He could face criminal charges, 770 00:38:19,733 --> 00:38:22,736 as well as multi-million-dollar compensation claims. 771 00:38:26,573 --> 00:38:28,175 Two months after the sinking, 772 00:38:28,242 --> 00:38:30,544 police surround a body lying on the sidewalk 773 00:38:30,611 --> 00:38:33,380 outside company headquarters in Athens. 774 00:38:33,447 --> 00:38:36,283 Sfinias has jumped out of his sixth floor window, 775 00:38:36,350 --> 00:38:38,018 committing suicide. 776 00:38:48,295 --> 00:38:49,730 Maritime experts 777 00:38:49,796 --> 00:38:52,099 at the National Technical University of Athens 778 00:38:52,165 --> 00:38:53,567 begin an inquiry. 779 00:38:55,002 --> 00:38:58,872 Detailed testimony is gathered from 46 crew members, 780 00:38:58,939 --> 00:39:01,308 as well as 192 passengers. 781 00:39:02,910 --> 00:39:05,345 The Greek legal authorities want the university 782 00:39:05,412 --> 00:39:07,848 to give them a thorough explanation of what happened. 783 00:39:12,586 --> 00:39:14,188 Professor David Molyneux 784 00:39:14,254 --> 00:39:16,123 of the National Research Centre of Canada 785 00:39:16,190 --> 00:39:19,459 is one of the world's leading experts on ferry safety. 786 00:39:19,526 --> 00:39:22,529 He's studied the findings of the Greek investigators, 787 00:39:22,596 --> 00:39:25,199 who came up with a startling realization. 788 00:39:27,501 --> 00:39:30,103 What they found at the inquiry defied some of the initial 789 00:39:30,170 --> 00:39:32,172 speculation concerning the age of the ship. 790 00:39:32,239 --> 00:39:34,708 And the accident in fact turned out to be caused 791 00:39:34,775 --> 00:39:36,410 by something completely different. 792 00:39:37,244 --> 00:39:40,314 Testimony reveals each small but critical factor 793 00:39:40,380 --> 00:39:42,816 that, together, turn a routine ferry crossing 794 00:39:42,883 --> 00:39:44,418 into a national disaster. 795 00:39:46,653 --> 00:39:48,288 Three hours into the journey, 796 00:39:48,355 --> 00:39:51,058 the crew switch on the ship's autopilot. 797 00:39:51,124 --> 00:39:53,594 The autopilot is an electronic link 798 00:39:53,660 --> 00:39:55,596 between the compass and the rudder, 799 00:39:55,662 --> 00:39:57,664 correcting the rudder a little bit one way 800 00:39:57,731 --> 00:39:59,700 or the other to bring you back where you want to be. 801 00:40:01,301 --> 00:40:02,769 Even on autopilot, 802 00:40:02,836 --> 00:40:05,873 a crew member should constantly monitor the ship's position. 803 00:40:07,040 --> 00:40:10,344 It's bad practice to leave an autopilot unattended 804 00:40:10,410 --> 00:40:12,012 particularly in bad weather, 805 00:40:12,079 --> 00:40:14,314 because the wind, the waves, and the current 806 00:40:14,381 --> 00:40:17,251 are all acting to drift the ship in one direction, 807 00:40:17,317 --> 00:40:20,787 and that kind of steady drift is not compensated for 808 00:40:20,854 --> 00:40:23,156 by the electronics in the autopilot. 809 00:40:25,058 --> 00:40:26,960 As the weather grows worse, 810 00:40:27,027 --> 00:40:29,363 the crew deploy the ships' stabilizer system, 811 00:40:29,429 --> 00:40:32,199 to make the ride more comfortable for the passengers. 812 00:40:32,266 --> 00:40:34,501 The stabilizer uses two small fins 813 00:40:34,568 --> 00:40:36,703 to counteract the roll of the ship. 814 00:40:41,208 --> 00:40:43,710 But something extraordinary has happened. 815 00:40:43,777 --> 00:40:46,346 Only the starboard, or right-hand 816 00:40:46,413 --> 00:40:48,282 stabilizer fin has extended. 817 00:40:50,284 --> 00:40:52,686 Very unusual. Normally we'd expect 818 00:40:52,753 --> 00:40:55,222 both stabilizers to be working at any one time. 819 00:40:55,289 --> 00:40:57,291 With just one stabilizer, 820 00:40:57,357 --> 00:40:59,393 the ship is no longer symmetrical, 821 00:40:59,459 --> 00:41:02,429 so the flow around the ship is unbalanced, 822 00:41:02,496 --> 00:41:04,498 and as a result, the ship will tend 823 00:41:04,565 --> 00:41:07,901 to drift one way rather than to go in a straight line. 824 00:41:08,902 --> 00:41:11,104 With only the starboard stabilizer, 825 00:41:11,171 --> 00:41:13,607 the Samina is pulled, slowly but surely, 826 00:41:13,674 --> 00:41:15,042 to the right. 827 00:41:15,108 --> 00:41:16,743 It's a deadly malfunction. 828 00:41:20,814 --> 00:41:24,384 Captains aim to stay at least 740 metres left 829 00:41:24,451 --> 00:41:25,886 of the Gates of Paros. 830 00:41:25,953 --> 00:41:27,721 But when the Samina arrives, 831 00:41:27,788 --> 00:41:29,323 she's on collision course. 832 00:41:29,389 --> 00:41:31,191 A crew member makes a last-minute attempt 833 00:41:31,258 --> 00:41:33,327 to steer the ship to the left. 834 00:41:34,094 --> 00:41:36,029 But the ship can't turn quickly enough. 835 00:41:39,733 --> 00:41:41,101 Whoa! 836 00:41:43,103 --> 00:41:45,372 Oh, my God! Oh, my God! 837 00:41:48,075 --> 00:41:50,777 It was very unfortunate the ship got holed, 838 00:41:50,844 --> 00:41:54,381 but there was really no reason why the ship should have sank. 839 00:41:54,448 --> 00:41:56,483 The damage was within the range 840 00:41:56,550 --> 00:41:58,819 that you would normally expect a ship to survive. 841 00:41:58,886 --> 00:42:00,187 Get off this ship! 842 00:42:01,355 --> 00:42:03,724 The east face of the taller pinnacle 843 00:42:03,790 --> 00:42:05,325 is where the ship strikes 844 00:42:05,392 --> 00:42:07,761 at 12 minutes past ten PM. 845 00:42:11,865 --> 00:42:14,535 There's a six metre lengthways gash, 846 00:42:14,601 --> 00:42:16,236 as long as a telephone pole, 847 00:42:16,303 --> 00:42:17,771 and one metre wide. 848 00:42:21,909 --> 00:42:23,177 Are you okay? 849 00:42:23,243 --> 00:42:25,746 But this hole is well above the water line. 850 00:42:25,812 --> 00:42:27,714 No water should enter the ship. 851 00:42:30,584 --> 00:42:32,519 Moments later, a second impact. 852 00:42:33,854 --> 00:42:36,490 The stabilizer fin bends backwards. 853 00:42:36,557 --> 00:42:39,159 It stabs, like a dagger, through the ship's side. 854 00:42:39,226 --> 00:42:40,894 Oh, my God! 855 00:42:40,961 --> 00:42:43,730 This three-metre gash is below the waterline. 856 00:42:43,797 --> 00:42:47,000 Even worse, it's exactly alongside the engine room. 857 00:42:47,067 --> 00:42:49,336 The main generators are knocked out. 858 00:42:49,403 --> 00:42:52,005 Electrical power is cut throughout the ship. 859 00:42:52,072 --> 00:42:53,941 One more! 860 00:43:02,115 --> 00:43:04,618 The investigating team orders divers 861 00:43:04,685 --> 00:43:07,654 to make a detailed survey of the wreck of the Samina. 862 00:43:08,455 --> 00:43:11,692 Inside, they discover the final piece of the puzzle. 863 00:43:11,758 --> 00:43:15,229 Even with two large holes, the ship could have been saved. 864 00:43:15,295 --> 00:43:18,298 One final error sealed the fate of the Samina. 865 00:43:20,033 --> 00:43:22,336 The passenger ferry Express Samina 866 00:43:22,402 --> 00:43:25,105 strikes rocks near the Greek island of Paros. 867 00:43:25,172 --> 00:43:28,075 With two gaping holes in her starboard side, 868 00:43:28,141 --> 00:43:31,478 she capsizes and sinks in 38 metres of water. 869 00:43:33,347 --> 00:43:35,616 Divers go down to survey the wreck 870 00:43:35,682 --> 00:43:37,684 and make a startling discovery. 871 00:43:38,552 --> 00:43:40,587 Like all large seagoing ships, 872 00:43:40,654 --> 00:43:43,290 the Samina is divided into separate compartments, 873 00:43:43,357 --> 00:43:46,226 sealed by watertight doors, like this one. 874 00:43:46,293 --> 00:43:49,963 Safety laws insist they remain locked while the ship is at sea. 875 00:43:50,731 --> 00:43:54,735 On the Samina's last journey, some of the doors were open. 876 00:43:54,801 --> 00:43:56,570 If you imagine in your house, 877 00:43:56,637 --> 00:43:58,739 every time you went through a door from the kitchen, 878 00:43:58,805 --> 00:44:00,874 you had to close it, lock it, 879 00:44:00,941 --> 00:44:03,710 move on to the living room, open that door, 880 00:44:03,777 --> 00:44:06,046 close it, lock it, and carry on. 881 00:44:06,113 --> 00:44:08,582 It really does slow down your everyday life, 882 00:44:08,649 --> 00:44:12,186 so there is a tendency sometimes to leave these doors open. 883 00:44:14,688 --> 00:44:16,023 One more! 884 00:44:16,089 --> 00:44:17,357 Because they're left open, 885 00:44:17,424 --> 00:44:19,960 water is no longer confined to the engine room. 886 00:44:21,028 --> 00:44:23,130 And now that the power is cut, 887 00:44:23,197 --> 00:44:25,265 the crew can't close the doors remotely. 888 00:44:30,070 --> 00:44:32,506 Twenty-nine of the crew are called back 889 00:44:32,573 --> 00:44:34,708 for a second grilling by investigators. 890 00:44:35,409 --> 00:44:37,578 This testimony provides an exact picture 891 00:44:37,644 --> 00:44:39,613 of the ship's last moments, 892 00:44:39,680 --> 00:44:42,482 data which is now built into a computer model. 893 00:44:44,251 --> 00:44:47,921 At 10:15, three minutes after the collision, 894 00:44:47,988 --> 00:44:51,358 the ship is listing only five degrees to the right, 895 00:44:51,425 --> 00:44:54,228 but filling fast through that hole in the engine room. 896 00:44:55,596 --> 00:44:59,099 By 10:25, she's listing 14 degrees. 897 00:44:59,166 --> 00:45:01,969 Now the six-metre gash, which was above the waterline, 898 00:45:02,035 --> 00:45:03,670 is exposed to the sea. 899 00:45:04,571 --> 00:45:06,440 This is the point where the Samina 900 00:45:06,507 --> 00:45:09,109 and 80 of those on board are doomed. 901 00:45:09,176 --> 00:45:12,346 The ship can't withstand this degree of damage. 902 00:45:13,614 --> 00:45:16,149 The Samina is what's called a ro-ro ferry. 903 00:45:16,216 --> 00:45:18,852 It stands for roll-on, roll-off. 904 00:45:18,919 --> 00:45:21,021 This is a modern ro-ro ship. 905 00:45:21,088 --> 00:45:23,991 Vehicles simply reverse in through the stern doors 906 00:45:24,057 --> 00:45:26,527 and then drive out at their destination. 907 00:45:26,593 --> 00:45:28,562 It's a cost-effective design 908 00:45:28,629 --> 00:45:30,764 with a potentially fatal flaw. 909 00:45:33,200 --> 00:45:35,469 The worst shipping disasters in recent times 910 00:45:35,536 --> 00:45:38,238 have involved vessels designed this way. 911 00:45:40,741 --> 00:45:42,476 The Herald of Free Enterprise went down 912 00:45:42,543 --> 00:45:44,611 with the loss of 193 lives 913 00:45:44,678 --> 00:45:47,014 at Zeebrugge in Belgium in 1987. 914 00:45:47,848 --> 00:45:51,185 850 were drowned aboard the ro-ro ferry Estonia 915 00:45:51,251 --> 00:45:53,487 in the Baltic Sea in 1994. 916 00:45:55,656 --> 00:45:58,192 Unlike a cruise ship or a cargo vessel, 917 00:45:58,258 --> 00:46:00,694 which are divided into many smaller compartments, 918 00:46:00,761 --> 00:46:04,631 the vehicle deck of a ro-ro ship is one large, open area, 919 00:46:04,698 --> 00:46:06,934 highly vulnerable to rapid flooding. 920 00:46:07,968 --> 00:46:10,604 Imagine comparing flooding an egg box 921 00:46:10,671 --> 00:46:13,774 with flooding just an empty cardboard shoebox. 922 00:46:13,841 --> 00:46:16,543 The shoebox would tend to fill up very quickly, 923 00:46:16,610 --> 00:46:19,313 whereas an egg box would tend to fill up 924 00:46:19,379 --> 00:46:21,048 each compartment at a time. 925 00:46:21,114 --> 00:46:23,150 So the egg box would stay afloat, 926 00:46:23,217 --> 00:46:25,219 whereas the shoebox wouldn't. 927 00:46:25,285 --> 00:46:27,955 This open space is especially vulnerable, 928 00:46:28,021 --> 00:46:30,290 because it's so close to the waterline. 929 00:46:30,357 --> 00:46:32,693 The car deck on a ro-ro ferry is low, 930 00:46:32,759 --> 00:46:35,195 to make driving the vehicles on and off easy. 931 00:46:35,262 --> 00:46:38,799 As a result, you're relying on those watertight compartments 932 00:46:38,866 --> 00:46:41,735 to keep the ship afloat in the event of damage. 933 00:46:43,437 --> 00:46:47,007 By 10:29, the Samina is listing 23 degrees. 934 00:46:48,475 --> 00:46:50,244 - Are we almost there? - Yes. 935 00:46:50,310 --> 00:46:51,545 She's now tilting so much 936 00:46:51,612 --> 00:46:54,515 that it's impossible to launch more lifeboats. 937 00:46:54,581 --> 00:46:57,117 Only three of the eight she carried got away. 938 00:46:59,753 --> 00:47:01,755 Three minutes later, at 10:32, 939 00:47:01,822 --> 00:47:04,291 she's listing 33 degrees. 940 00:47:04,358 --> 00:47:05,959 At around 10:50, 941 00:47:06,026 --> 00:47:07,995 the ship turns completely on her side. 942 00:47:11,632 --> 00:47:14,034 We know the exact time that the ship sank 943 00:47:14,101 --> 00:47:15,836 because the clock on the bridge was stopped 944 00:47:15,903 --> 00:47:17,137 at two minutes past 11. 945 00:47:18,839 --> 00:47:20,307 Divers surveying the wreck 946 00:47:20,374 --> 00:47:22,342 make their most important discovery. 947 00:47:23,377 --> 00:47:25,846 Of the ships 11 watertight doors, 948 00:47:25,913 --> 00:47:27,447 nine were left open. 949 00:47:31,685 --> 00:47:34,454 The most important aspect of this accident 950 00:47:34,521 --> 00:47:36,590 was leaving the watertight doors open. 951 00:47:36,657 --> 00:47:38,625 As a result, the ship flooded, 952 00:47:38,692 --> 00:47:40,861 it lost all its reserve of buoyancy, 953 00:47:40,928 --> 00:47:42,062 and eventually sank. 954 00:47:42,129 --> 00:47:43,830 If the doors had been locked, 955 00:47:43,897 --> 00:47:46,300 despite the navigational error which put the ship 956 00:47:46,366 --> 00:47:49,503 on the rocks, despite the hole in the engine room, 957 00:47:49,570 --> 00:47:51,939 this would probably have been a survivable accident. 958 00:47:57,811 --> 00:48:00,581 The trial of ship's captain Vassilis Yannakos 959 00:48:00,647 --> 00:48:03,584 and seven others began in May 2005, 960 00:48:03,650 --> 00:48:06,220 more than four years after the disaster. 961 00:48:08,255 --> 00:48:11,525 The sinking of the Samina led to safety improvements. 962 00:48:11,592 --> 00:48:13,627 Greece cut the maximum working life 963 00:48:13,694 --> 00:48:16,797 of passenger ferries from 35 to 30 years. 964 00:48:18,932 --> 00:48:21,668 The tragedy also helped speed the introduction 965 00:48:21,735 --> 00:48:25,038 of voyage recorders, like an airplane black box. 966 00:48:25,105 --> 00:48:27,941 They're now mandatory in all passenger ferries. 967 00:48:28,008 --> 00:48:30,611 Some good came out of bad. 968 00:48:36,083 --> 00:48:38,719 For the first time since those dramatic events, 969 00:48:38,785 --> 00:48:41,388 Katrina Stark has come back to Paros. 970 00:48:41,455 --> 00:48:43,490 It's an emotional return. 971 00:48:45,292 --> 00:48:47,394 It was a pretty traumatic thing to go through, 972 00:48:47,461 --> 00:48:50,364 but it's quite a character-building experience, 973 00:48:50,430 --> 00:48:54,301 and I think it plays a large part in who I am today. 974 00:48:54,935 --> 00:48:57,037 For their role in helping to save lives, 975 00:48:57,104 --> 00:48:58,906 Heidi Hart and Christine Shannon 976 00:48:58,972 --> 00:49:02,142 were given an award for heroism by the city of Seattle. 977 00:49:04,111 --> 00:49:08,782 I understand my strength a lot more, 978 00:49:08,849 --> 00:49:13,387 and I can live freely... 979 00:49:14,188 --> 00:49:17,291 without the restraints of being scared of what's unknown. 980 00:49:17,357 --> 00:49:18,926 Because life is an unknown. 981 00:49:19,726 --> 00:49:22,996 Even for a heroine, it's tough to look back. 982 00:49:25,065 --> 00:49:27,000 Christine and I, 983 00:49:27,067 --> 00:49:29,303 we always say, "We were the lucky ones. 984 00:49:29,369 --> 00:49:31,538 We were in the right place at the right time." 985 00:49:31,605 --> 00:49:34,575 And that is the only thing I can think of 986 00:49:34,641 --> 00:49:37,277 why we made it and so many other people didn't. 987 00:49:41,381 --> 00:49:43,750 And it breaks my heart. 988 00:49:44,918 --> 00:49:47,354 difuze