Two High Wycombe teenagers and their college teacher have told of their horror after they were trapped on a sinking cruise liner during a college trip to Greece.

Pippa Nash, from Walters Ash, and Libbi Pickup, from Bourne End, had to be evacuated from the 414ft long Sea Diamond after it hit a reef off the coast of the Greek island of Santorini.

The two girls were among 33 students from Henley College on a week-long ancient history tour. The group were almost at the end of their four-day cruise when the drama happened.

A huge gash ripped open the second deck hull when the ship ran aground and water began pouring in. Within two minutes the ship had tilted to an angle of 35 degrees.

The students described how there was widespread panic on the boat when warning sirens were set off and the 1,156 passengers and 391 crew members were told to evacuate.

A 45-year-old French man and his 16-year-old daughter are still reported as missing following the incident.

Pippa, 16, and Libbi, 17, were both in their cabins when the 22 ton ship hit the rocks last Thursday.

The girls, who are both AS-level philosophy students at the college in Deanfield Avenue, Henley, were with three teachers during the £775 trip.

One of the teachers, 30-year-old classics teacher Tristan Arnison, said: "It was complete pandemonium. There was a huge amount of panic, there was a woman next to me screaming hysterically. It was a pretty terrifying experience, we didn't know what was going to happen. You don't quite know if the ship is going to go over."

Libbi, from Blind Lane, was sitting on her bed when the drama began. She said: "When the tip actually happened all our stuff was just slamming against the wall. I half slid down my bed. I jumped up and grabbed my life jacket, my friend started packing her bag.

"I thought it was a joke, I thought we'll be back in about 20 minutes. People just thought it was the anchor going down."

She told how she made her way to the lobby on the eighth deck to wait for a lifeboat and managed to get on the second one that left.

She said: "On the right as it was tipping you could see the water where it was getting closer and on the left you could see clouds and sky getting closer."

Pippa, from Main Road, meanwhile had to wait 45 minutes before she was taken to shore.

As the boat began to tilt she went into the corridor but admitted she did not think anything was wrong so went back in her cabin. But when a glass fell off a shelf and smashed by her feet she got worried.

She said: "Everyone went back outside and I thought, okay something's really up. One of my friends came running out and said the crew have got their life jackets on.

"It's a bit like watching Titanic. You do think Oh my God, we're going to sink'."

Helicopters, navy divers and nume-rous other boats were scrambled into action to help with the rescue operation.

The Sea Diamond was tugged off the reef and sank 15 hours later with all its luggage still on board.

The college group were taken to Athens in another liner and given 200 Euros to buy clothes and essentials before flying home on Saturday.