(StraightNews.org) – A cruise ship stopped near the Dominican Republic to rescue men stranded at sea following the capsizing of a cargo vessel. Captain Paolo Severini altered his ship’s course after receiving an emergency alert on the onboard monitoring system. Officers then spotted six men on a life raft in the ocean and helped them onboard the cruise liner. The rescued men said six more people were missing, prompting an emergency rescue by the US Coast Guard, who located them and brought them to safety.
A female passenger on the cruise ship caught the dramatic moment on tape and posted it to social media. “On the way to Amber Cove, the Carnival Vista rescued this life raft,” she wrote on TikTok.
The cargo ship, named the Two Brothers, sank around 30 miles north of Puerto Plata, and the Coast Guard said the survivors were in good health and uninjured.
The incident happened only months after the Port Canaveral, part of the Carnival Cruise Line network, rescued a couple near the Bahamas in August. On that occasion, the US Coast Guard contacted the ship to ask for help saving a man and woman in distress around 20 miles from the coast. The cruise liner located the couple and sent down a rescue craft. Officers said both were treated in the onboard medical facility.
Cruise ships regularly rescue people in trouble on the seas, and in October, a single man attempting to row across the Pacific had his adventure cut short when his small boat turned over amid high waves. Tom Robinson started his trip in Peru in 2022 and expected to cross 8,500 nautical miles in 12 months on his 24-foot-long wooden boat. On the final leg of his journey from Vanuatu to Cairns, Australia, he passed through the Bougainville Strait, known for high winds, where his vessel capsized.
Luckily for Mr. Robinson, a P&O Cruises Pacific Explorer was passing at the time and picked him up unharmed.
Copyright 2023, StraightNews.org
