Coast Guard, cruise ship rescue 22 people adrift in Gulf of Mexico for days
Published 8:59 am Monday, April 15, 2019
- The Coast Guard and the crew of the cruise ship Carnival Fantasy rescued 23 individuals on the high seas, 130 nautical miles off the Yucatan Peninsula, April 14, 2019. Photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Brandon Giles U.S. Coast Guard
The U.S. Coast Guard said it worked with a cruise ship to rescue 23 people adrift for days in the Gulf of Mexico.
A Coast Guard news statement issued Sunday saying 22 Cubans started traveling on a wooden boat from Cuba to Mexico before losing power and drifting three days.
A Cuban-Mexican man took them aboard his sports fishing boat, but then its engines malfunctioned and the group drifted three more days.
The Coast Guard said it was contacted early Sunday by a brother of one of the Cubans. In addition to launching its own effort to find the disabled fishing boat, the Coast Guard alerted the Carnival Fantasy.
A Coast Guard Air Station Miami HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircrew located the disabled vessel and directed the Carnival Fantasy toward their location for rescue.
The cruise ship took the 23 people aboard within hours, about 130 nautical miles (210 kilometers) off Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.
The statement said two of the people rescued had minor medical issues and were treated by medical staff on the cruise ship. It added that the 23 people would be transferred Tuesday to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Coast Guard Investigative Services in Mobile, Alabama.
