HOW DID SHE SURVIVE?
After British woman falls from 7th deck of cruise ship and is afloat in Adriatic for 10 HOURS ...
A BRITISH woman who went overboard from a luxury cruise liner was rescued by coastguards after spending ten hours in the Adriatic Sea.
The woman is understood to have been drinking when she fell from the seventh deck of the 92,000-ton Norwegian Star 60 miles off the Croatian coast, according to other passengers yesterday.
She later hailed the ‘wonderful guys’ from the Croatian coastguard who saved her life.
The woman, who gave her name only as Kay, added that she was ‘very lucky to be alive’.
The 46-year- old’s disappearance at about midnight local time on Saturday triggered a frantic search by the crew after the alarm was raised. The ship doubled back to the sea area where she was thought to be and carried out at least four passes in its search for the missing woman.
At about 8am it handed over the search to a coastguard cutter, the Cavtat. Three other vessels and a Pilatus PC-9 spotter plane joined the hunt and continued to scour the area until, remarkably, they found her at about noon yesterday. Kay was filmed climbing a ladder on to the coastguard vessel and later, after drying off, posed for a picture sitting around a table with her rescuers – looking in remarkably good health.
She later told Croatian television: ‘I fell off the back of the Norwegian Star, and was in the water for ten hours.
‘Then these wonderful guys rescued me.’
It was not known how Kay managed to survive all night in the water or if she had help staying afloat from a life ring.
Other passengers who were on the liner said the incident had been captured on the 17year-old ship’s CCTV system.
Norwegian Star had been heading back to Venice at the end of a seven-night voyage taking in Kotor, Montenegro and the Greek islands when the drama unfolded.
A Derbyshire businessman who was on board told the Daily Mail as passengers waited to disembark yesterday: ‘ We heard she was in a cabin on her own but had been travelling with family and friends. They raised the alarm when they realised she was missing. The ship turned around at about 2am and went back to the area where she fell. Coastguards found her at about midday local time today.’
The passenger, who asked not to be named, said ship staff had sealed off the area where she is said to have fallen with metal barriers. ‘We were told she had left her handbag, which contained her passport, on the deck before falling, and that the incident was captured on CCTV,’ he added. ‘Apparently she had been drinking.’ The ship should have berthed in Venice at 8am but did not arrive until 1.30pm local time, by which point the woman had returned by sea to Pula, northern Croatia, and had been taken to hospital for checks.
She was yesterday said to be recovering.
A passenger calling herself Seafoam Sally, who started a thread on the incident on the cruisecritic.com web forum, said passengers were informed just after 6am yesterday that a passenger had gone overboard overnight.
She added: ‘Around 8am the captain notified us that he was suspending the search and rescue and heading back to Venice, but the Croatian coastguard would take over.’
The Croatian rescue ship was scrambled from the port of Vargarola and found her swimming 1,400 yards from where she was believed to have fallen overboard.
The rescue ship’s captain, Lovro Oreskovic, said that she was exhausted and staff were ‘extremely happy for saving a human life’.
The circumstances of the incident are being investigated and the British embassy in Croatia was informed.
The 14-deck Norwegian Star boasts ten bars and lounges and a spa and has recently
‘They raised the alarm and ship turned back’
been refurbished, adding three venues – including a Sky High bar and adults- only leisure zone boasting private pool, waterfall showers, hot tubs and bar with ocean views.
Deck seven, where the woman is said to have fallen from, is thought to house a theatre and at least five bars or cafes.
The ‘Seven-Day Greek Isles from Venice’ cruise is advertised on the operator’s website at £979 per person.
A Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) spokesman said: ‘In the morning of August 19, a guest went overboard as Norwegian Star made her way to Venice.
‘The Coast Guard was notified and a search and rescue operation ensued. We are pleased to advise that the guest was found alive, is currently in stable condition, and has been taken ashore in Croatia for further treatment.
‘We are very happy that the individual, who is a UK resident, is now safe and will soon be reunited with friends and family.’
They declined to comment on claims from fellow guests that the passenger had been filmed on CCTV falling from the ship.
The firm said that it was working to assist guests whose ose onward travel plans had been en affected by the ship’s late ate return to port in Venice.
At the end of June, a crew ew member from NCL’s Norwegian we Getaway jumped overboard but was rescued by another cruise ship 24 hours later – after the Norwegian Getaway had abandoned a search and returned to port in Miami.
The US Coast Guard had continued searching through the night for the Filipino crewman, but he was found 26 miles outside the search zone by another liner, off the coast of Cuba.
Do you know who the rescued woman is? Contact andy.dolan@dailymail.co.uk
‘Will be reunited with family’