A Piraeus appeals court has upheld the heaviest jail term in Greek shipping history, a 15-year sentence against London Greek Panagiotis A Lemos, 85.

He was tried in absentia over the fatal sinking of the 27,000-dwt bulker Albion Two (built 1976) almost 20 years ago.

All 25 crew drowned when the ship went down in heavy weather off the French coast in mid-February 1997 while carrying a cargo of steel products from Antwerp to the Caribbean.