Sunk cruise ship captain charged

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- The captain and five officers of a cruise ship that sank off an Aegean Sea island were charged Saturday with negligence, state television reported.

The six officers were charged with causing a shipwreck through negligence, breaching international shipping safety regulations and polluting the environment, state NET said. All were released pending further investigations.

Nearly 1,600 people were retrieved from the sinking ship Thursday in a three-hour rescue operation after the vessel foundered on a volcanic reef, but some passengers complained of an insufficient supply of life vests, little guidance from crew members and being forced into a steep climb down rope-ladders to safety.

A Frenchman and his daughter whose cabin flooded with water when the ship struck rocks were missing.

The 469-foot Sea Diamond struck rocks Thursday in the sea-filled crater formed by a volcano eruption 3,500 years ago off the island of Santorini, sinking about a quarter-mile off the coast, in waters of uneven depth, a few minutes before it was to dock...