COUPLE TRAPPED ON LINER
A SCOTS couple have told how their dream cruise has turned into a nightmare as they are trapped on board a liner with coronavirus victims.
Retired NHS Scotland workers Evelyn and Donald Wojcik are stranded on the Coral Princess.
Two of the 1020 passengers and 878 crew on board have died from Covid-19 and 10 further positive cases have been confirmed.
After one month at sea, the stricken ship docked in Miami yesterday, where critically ill passengers were taken off.
Speaking from her cabin, Evelyn, 58, said: “Yesterday, the captain told us two passengers had sadly passed away the night before. It’s very sad and I feel for their families.
“As a nurse, I’m used to dealing with death but I can imagine others on board will be scared. We are desperate to get home.”
Evelyn and Donald, from Edinburgh, are among nearly 400 British passengers on board. It last docked in the Falkland Islands on March 13.
They began the cruise on March 5 in Santiago, Chile. There had been no Government warnings over travelling and South America was reportedly virus-free at the time.
The couple say the Foreign Commonwealth Office should have done more to rescue Brits on board before 12 positive Covid-19 cases were confirmed.
They say the majority of British passengers were stopped from disembarking at Buenos Aires on March 19, and again in Rio de Janeiro on March 26 – despite some having UK-bound flights booked.
Evelyn added: “If the Foreign Office had taken decisive action earlier, we could be home by now instead of sitting quarantined in our rooms and worrying that there’s Covid-19 on the ship.”
A spokesperson for Princess Cruises said: “Disembarkation of guests is expected to take several days due to limited flight availability.
“Guests requiring shoreside medical care will be prioritised to disembark first.”