BREMERTON – Seven high school students from Kitsap County suffered bumps and bruises but survived the sinking of the cruise ship Sea Diamond in the Aegean Sea.
Also part of the safely rescued local group were two teachers and two family members.
Two people – a Frenchman and his daughter – were missing after the 469-foot vessel struck rocks Thursday in the sea-filled crater formed by a massive volcano eruption 3,500 years ago off the Greek island of Santorini.
Nearly 1,600 people were retrieved from the sinking ship in a three-hour rescue operation, but some passengers complained of an insufficient supply of life vests and little guidance from crew members.
“We just felt a little jolt and that was it,” Bremerton English teacher Judy Clark told the Kitsap Sun on Friday by telephone from a hotel in Athens, Greece.
After that, it became hectic as passengers scrambled to get to the lifeboat deck with only what they were wearing, Bremerton High School junior Carrie Swanson said. Passengers were screaming and panicked, she said.
“People were falling,” she said. “A girl next to me fainted. Another girl got really sick. Some people were pretty hysterical, looking for their children.”
When Swanson reached shore, she found her friend, Kate Baxter, and then sat down and cried.
“My head hurt,” she said. “My hip was bruised because I fell against the railing. I hit a mirror and fell down some stairs.”
The group also included Klahowya science teacher Robin Kiess, her son Chase and one student’s grandmother.
The group was on a spring break visit to Greece and its islands through an educational tour company.
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