At approximately 21:30 UTC+2, while

off the Wild Coast of the Transkei, a

muffled explosion was heard and the
Oceanos lost her power following a
leak in the engine room's sea chest.
The ship's chief engineer reported to
Captain Yiannis Avranas that water
was entering the hull and flooding the
generator room.[2] The generators were
shut down because the rising water
would have short circuited them. The
ship was left adrift.
The water steadily rose, flowing
through the 10 cm (3.9 in) hole in the
bulkhead and into the sewage waste
disposal tank. Without check valves in
the holding tank, the water coursed

through the main drainage pipes and

rose through the ship, spilling out of
showers, toilets, and waste disposal
units.
Realising the fate of the ship, the crew
fled in panic, neglecting the standard
procedure of closing the lower deck
portholes. No alarm was raised.
Passengers remained ignorant of the
events taking place until they
witnessed the first signs of flooding in
the lower decks. At this stage,
eyewitness accounts reveal that many
of the crew, including Captain
Avranas, were already packed and
ready to depart, seemingly
unconcerned with the safety of the
passengers.[3]

Rescue efforts[edit]
As no alarm or announcement was
given that the ship was in trouble,
several passengers went to the bridge
to look for the captain but found it
unmanned. Entertainer Moss Hills
then used the radio phone to broadcast
a mayday until a ship answered.[4]
Nearby vessels responded to the ship's
SOS and were the first to provide
assistance. The South African Navy
along with the South African Air
Force launched a seven-hour mission
in which 16 helicopters were used to
airlift the passengers and crew to the
nearby settlements of The Haven and
Hole in the Wall (

3220S 29636E32.03333S
29.11000E), about 10 km (6.2 mi)
south of Coffee Bay. Of the 16 rescue
helicopters, 13 were South African Air
Force Pumas, nine of which hoisted
225 passengers off the deck of the
sinking ship.[5]
All 571 people on board were saved.
Moss Hills organized the orderly
evacuation of passengers by the
helicopters and is generally
acknowledged as the leading hero of
the event. Hills and fellow entertainer
Julian Butler[6] directed the efforts of
the entertainment staff, which
included Tracy Hills (Moss Hills'
wife) and Robin Boltman,[7] to assist

the passengers. Butler, Moss Hills and

Tracy Hills were among the last five to
be rescued from the ship.[8][not in citation
given]

After many officers and crew

abandoned ship, women and children
were given priority when loading the
lifeboats by Oceanos' cruise director
Lorraine Betts. Later as the ship
developed a severe starboard list that
rendered the remaining lifeboats
useless; the remaining passengers had
to be airlifted onto South African Air
Force helicopters by means of a safety
harness. Betts again insisted that
women and children be rescued first.
Final moments[edit]

The following day, at approximately

15:30 UTC+2, the Oceanos rolled
over onto her side and sank by the
bow, eventually striking sand 90 m
(300 ft) below the surface while more
than 60 m (200 ft) of her stern
remained aloft a few minutes before
also slipping below, coming to rest at
320715S 290713E32.12093S
29.12029ECoordinates: 320715S
290713E32.12093S 29.12029E
on her starboard side almost at right
angles to the coastline, with her bow
facing seaward. The last 15 minutes of
the ship's sinking was captured on
video and broadcast by ABC News.[9]

Aftermath[edit]
Captain Yiannis Avranas and the crew
were criticized by passengers for
leaving hundreds behind with no one
other than the ship's onboard
entertainers to help them evacuate.
Avranas claimed that he left the ship
first to arrange for a rescue effort, and
then supervised the rescue from a
helicopter. He justified his actions
saying that the "ship was in darkness
and the batteries on the crew's walkietalkies had died, meaning that he had
no communications with his crew or
with other rescue craft".[10] Avranas
was quoted as saying "When I order
abandon the ship, it doesn't matter
what time I leave. Abandon is for

everybody. If some people like to stay,

they can stay."[11]
A Greek board of inquiry found
Avranas and four officers negligent in
their handling of the disaster.[12]
Epirotiki Lines had lost two other
ships within the three years preceding
the sinking:[13] the company's flagship
Pegasus only two months before, and
the MTS Jupiter, three years before.
Dateline NBC aired a documentary of
this incident on 23 May 2010. The
sinking of the ship is the subject of a
song called "Oceanos" by Celtic rock
band Coast. The accident was also
discussed in an episode of Nova on 18
April 2012 entitled "Why Ships Sink",

which focused mainly on the Costa

Concordia accident (whose
commanding officer also fled the
sinking ship while passengers were
still aboard) and how it related to the
Titanic. Moss Hills was interviewed in
the special, and related that some
years later he had been on board when
the MS Achille Lauro of Star Lauro
sank. The rescue featured in episode 4
of Shockwave, first aired 21 December
2007.[4]
Wreck[edit]
The Oceanos wreck lies at a depth of
between 92 m (302 ft) and 97 m
(318 ft), about 5 km (3.1 mi) offshore.
[1]
Divers have visited the wreck site,

but currents are strong and there are

many sharks in the area, so diving is
difficult.[1] Photographs taken in 2002
show that the bridge section of
Oceanos has collapsed.[14]