The captain and three crew members of the ferry Express Samina which sank resulting in 63 deaths, were formally charged with four offences last night, including multiple counts of murder, according to Greek legal authorities.
The Greek prosecuting lawyer, Mr Dimitri Dadinopoulos, said Capt Vassilis Yiannakis, his deputy, Mr Anastasios Psychoyos, and two crew members would face a criminal prosecution.
The four men face charges of murder, causing serious bodily injuries, violating maritime regulations and sinking a ship.
The captain and the crew are expected to leave Paros for the regional court on the island of Syros as soon as the weather clears and ferry travel is possible.
Mr Dadinopoulos said the charges would be formally put to them at the court in Syros, and a trial will be fixed within 18 months.
Members of the crew, who were five hours into a routine trip from Athens, were said to have been watching the Champions League match with the Greek side, Panathinaikos, at the time of the collision.
Five crew members, including the captain and his deputy, have been arrested and held at Paros. Reports in the Greek press also claimed the captain had been responsible for two previous ferry collisions.
Earlier yesterday, Greek coastguards said 62 Greeks and a Norwegian woman were confirmed dead, but the final figure may be higher. Around 12 people are officially still missing but the number may increase as tickets could be bought on board and were not issued to small children.
Young Greek soldiers fought choppy seas holding babies afloat and handed their own lifejackets to the elderly passengers. Four navy commandos and 17 army conscripts were returning for duty on the island of Naxos on board the Express Samina when it ran aground.
"I was holding a small boy in my arms and he kept asking me not to let go of him. I talked to him about soccer and told him stories," Mr Alexandros Georgiadis (19) told Greek television.
Witnesses said the young men, aged 19 to 25, had risked their own lives to help other passengers. One did not survive the shipwreck.
"They put their lives at risk to help us and especially the children and the elderly," one survivor, Mr Panayiotis Hasapis, told the newspaper Ethnos. "They brought people on deck and helped them on to rescue boats and fishing boats."
"We all did what we could . . . our duty," Lieut Grigoris Bertakis (25) told the daily Eleftherotypia.
He described how Mr Georgiadis, a navy commando, had jumped into the dark and stormy Aegean holding a small child. He then swam towards an elderly woman crying out for help in the water and gave her his lifejacket.
"He kept reassuring the child: `Don't be scared, I won't let go of you'," Lieut Bertakis said.
The Defence Ministry said it was considering medals for the men's heroic actions. Stories of their selfless efforts to rescue people clashed sharply with survivors' accusations of negligence and neglect among the crew.
Some passengers said there had been no public announcement when the ferry ran aground. Many said they had had to look for lifejackets on their own or jumped into the water without them. Some of the seamen rejected the charges, saying they had stayed behind to help passengers and pointing out that at least three of their own were identified among the dead.
While most survivors had few good words for the crew, many praised the fishermen of Paros, who brought their boats out in the choppy seas to pick up survivors.