ATHENS, Greece – The captain of a cruise ship that sank off an Aegean Sea island, sending more than 1,500 passengers and crew onto rescue boats, was charged Saturday with causing a shipwreck through negligence. The 469-foot Sea Diamond sank after hitting a well-marked and charted reef on Thursday, in fair weather, inside the Greek island of Santorini’s sea-filled volcanic crater. The ship’s Greek captain was also charged with breaching international shipping safety regulations and polluting the environment, a Merchant Marine Ministry spokeswoman said. Two French tourists on the ship remain missing.
A Russian rocket carrying the American billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word roared into night skies Saturday, sending Charles Simonyi, 58, and two cosmonauts soaring into orbit on a journey to the international space station. Climbing on a column of smoke and fire into the clouds, the Soyuz TMA-10 capsule lifted off at 11:31 p.m. local time, casting an orange glow over the Baikonur cosmodrome and dozens of officials and well-wishers watching from about a mile away. Simonyi paid $25 million for the trip.
Iran refused to allow the Iraqi prime minister to fly across its airspace as he was traveling to Tokyo, members of the delegation traveling with Nouri al-Maliki said early today. The delegation members said al-Maliki’s plane was diverted Saturday to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where al-Maliki stayed in the airport for more than three hours while his government aircraft was refueled and a new flight plan was filed. Iranian officials were unavailable to comment.
Somali pirates have freed two hijacked merchant ships, including one that had just delivered U.N. food aid when it was seized more than a month ago with 12 crew on board, a maritime official said Saturday. The ships, the U.N.-chartered MV Rozen and the Indian-flagged MV Nimatullah, were sailing out of Somali waters, the head of the Kenyan chapter of the Seafarers Assistance Program said. He said a ransom had been paid but he did not have details. “All the crew are safe aboard both vessels,” he said.
A roadside bomb tore through a civilian bus on Saturday, killing seven people and wounding 26, the army said, blaming Tamil Tiger rebels for the attack. The blast occurred near Vavuniya, the last government-held town before rebel-controlled territory in the north, a Defense Ministry spokesman said. Six of the dead were civilians and one was a soldier going home on leave, he said. He blamed the Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam – the Tamil Tigers’ formal name – for the attack. However, the rebels denied any involvement, calling the bombing a plot to discredit them.
A jeep carrying a gelatin-based explosive used for a highway construction project exploded in Chendur village on Saturday, killing 16 people and injuring 22 more, a senior police official said. The explosive material came from a government-licensed depot and exploded after the vehicle caught fire, police said. “The villagers saw smoke emerging from the jeep and stopped it. The driver and his assistant and some villagers tried to put out the fire by throwing sand on it, when the explosion took place,” a police spokesman said.
From Herald news service
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