LAKONIA FIRE

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31111, 14 July 1966, Page 13

LAKONIA FIRE

Censure Of Officers (N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) 1 ATHENS, July 11. A special Government commission ruled today that eight officers of the Greek cruise ship Lakonia, which burned and sank with a loss of 128 lives on a Christmas 1 cruise in 1963, were guilty of negligence, the Associated Press report- i ed. i The commission upheld ' earlier charges of gross negligence against Captain 1 Mathew Zarbis, Deputy Cap- 1 tain Dimitri Valmas and the safety officer, Spygidon An-, gelopoulos. ■ In addition, the four-mem-ber commission found four j other officers guilty of the , same charge, and said the ship’s purser was guilty of minor negligence. The commission’s findings, ' which are considered final, ' said the Lakonia was adequately equipped with fire- : fighting apparatus but blamed ■ lack of organisation and : methods with which the fire was fought for the disaster. 1 The 10,830-ton Lakonia was cruising with several hundred tourists, mostly British, when she caught fire and sank on December 23, 1963, near Madeira Island. Captain Zarbis and the safety officer Angelopoulos are currently working on other vessels. Valmas Is convalescent after an illness caused by inhaling fumes while fighting the Lakonia fire. The Public Prosecutor’s office did not say what, if any, action might be taken against the officer as a result of today’s decision, but beside being liable to prosecution, the officers could lose their maritime licences.

The ship was owned by the General Steam Navigation Company Ltd., of Greece, and operated by the Greek Piraeus Line. Of the 365 crewmen, 163 were Greek. The Lakonia was formerly the Johann Van Oberbarneveldt, and under Dutch ownership traded to New Zealand.