By Karolos Grohmann

ATHENS, April 11 (Reuters) - Human error caused a Greek ship to sink near the Aegean island of Santorini last week, the cruise company said on Wednesday, without naming a culprit.

The 22,412-tonne Sea Diamond, run by Louis Cruise Lines, hit a reef on Thursday close to the scenic island, one of Greece's most popular tourist destinations, and sank early on Friday.

More than 1,500 passengers and crew were evacuated but two French tourists, a father and daughter, are still missing.

"There is most definitely human error. While ships are nowadays technologically very advanced, the human factor can still cause accidents," Louis Cruise Lines operations department head Giorgos Koubanas told reporters.

Louis Cruise Lines said there had been 730 Americans, 112 Spaniards, 100 French and many other foreigners on board, including Germans, Britons and Australians.

Koubanas did not say whose mistake led to the cruiser's sinking metres off the island's coast.

"I do not know who gave the order for the ship to end up there," he said, adding the retrieval of the voayage data recorder would provide some answers.

The sinking surprised the government, which had declared the rescue and evacuation operation a major success.

Koubanas said according to the company's records, the wife of the French father and daughter reported them missing at 1700 GMT, some three hours later than the woman said she had raised the alarm with crew.

He said the captain had tried to reach their cabin minutes later but the water level had already risen above that deck. The captain told a prosecutor that currents took the ship off course, according to justice ministry sources. Greek Merchant Marine Minister Manolis Kefaloyannis, under fire for praising the rescue operation only to admit a day later that two passengers were unaccounted for, said the accident would be discussed in parliament next week.

He said efforts to contain an oil spill were ongoing. Special cleaning vessels have been battling the spill and some 410 tonnes of water mixed with oil have been collected.

Over the weekend, a Greek prosecutor charged the captain and five other crew with negligence leading to the sinking. If found guilty, the crew probably face a suspended prison sentence.

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