Sunday 4th August, 1991 holds a significant position in the history of South Africa as one of the most dramatic and tragic day when MTS Oceanos, a cruise with more than 550 passengers on board, sank on the eastern coast of South Africa.
As per records the MTS Oceanos set out from East London to Durban, South-Africa on 3rd August, 1991 with pretty rough sea conditions. Heading into 30 feet swells and 40 knot winds, when it reached into the middle of the Wild Coast of the Transkei, suddenly a loud bang was heard. A leak in the engine room causing power outage was reported by the ship’s engineers to Captain, Yiannis Avranas, who announced to abandon the ship.
By the time the announcement was made the Generator room had filled with sea water, so no alarm was raised and resultantly passengers, who were unaware of the announcement, realized what’s really happening when the lower deck of the ship was completely filled with sea water.
Some eyewitnesses reported that Captain Avranas’s and some of his crew members were the first ones, who left the ship prior passengers. It was also reported that Entertainers Moss, Julian and Tracy Hills were the only ones available on the ship to guide people and made contact to authorities.
South African Navy along with the South African Air Force made really a tremendous effort of arranging a massive rescue mission to save the lives of innocent passengers on board.
The Captain of the Oceanos, Yiannis Avranas, was accused guilty by the passengers of leaving them behind when the cruise was sinking. But, in response to this, what Avranas said was something that only a stupid person can believe on it. He said “I abandon the ship first to put together the rescue effort”!
Oceanos Sinking
