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Woman Rescued After Falling Overboard From Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship and Floating for 20 Hours
A cruise ship passenger faced a nightmare scenario when she reportedly fell overboard and was stranded on the open ocean with nothing but a life preserver buoy for close to 20 hours before being rescued.
According to USA Today, the woman was traveling on a Royal Caribbean ship near Greece when she fell overboard.
In a press release issued Sunday, October 11, by the Hellenic Coast Guard, the woman was identified as a 44-year-old El Salvador national but no further details about how she went overboard were given.
The release noted that the cruise ship, which was flying the Bahamas flag, reported that a passenger had fallen into the water; an emergency rescue plan was immediately put into action that utilized not only boats from the Hellenic Coast Guard and a helicopter from the Hellenic Air Force, but also passing civilian and commercial ships.
It was a cargo ship that joined the search effort that initially spotted a distress beacon on a tipped-over life buoy. Once they got closer, they saw that the woman was clinging to it, fully conscious.
Video from the incident shared by the Coast Guard shows the moment the ship approached her and took her on board.
Per Fox 13, a Coast Guard spokesperson told Agence France-Presse that the woman said to authorities she jumped off because she “wanted to disembark.” Agence France-Presse reported that “she was 20 hours at sea.”
Once brought on board, she was given first aid and promptly brought back to land, the news release said.
