Cruise rescue Kay seen ‘enjoying’ rest of holiday in Venice
AGLOUCESTERSHIRE woman who spent ten hours in the sea after falling from a cruise ship has been able to finish her holiday.
Kay Longstaff went overboard just before midnight on Saturday as the Norwegian Star made its way back to Venice on the final night of a week-long Eastern Mediterranean cruise.
Amazingly, the former Cheltenham flight attendant, 45, was found the next morning swimming in the water just a mile from where she disappeared.
Rescuers say she was exhausted but has recovered and was seen enjoying a meal in Venice with her boyfriend Craig Rayment.
The week-long cruise finished without her as she was admitted to hospital in Pula after being rescued by the Croation coastguard.
Ms Longstaff moved to Spain two years ago and she is staying tight-lipped on the situation. The cruise started in the Italian city before taking in Kotor, Dubrovnik, Santorini and other Greek islands and returning to port in Venice.
She spent ten hours in the water after plunging from the seventh deck.
The liner went back to look for her after she was reported missing.
They alerted the the Croatian authorities who sent out ships and a helicopter. She was found 60 miles off the coast.
She told local TV crews:
“I fell off the back of the Norwegian Star. These wonderful guys rescued me. I am very lucky to be alive.”
The hospital’s medical director Dr Irena Hrstic said: “I’m so surprised that she is OK after being in the sea for ten hours. The main thing that can happen is acute stress that anyone can experience after a night in the sea. That’s why we’re observing her.
“The biggest danger in the sea is to be frozen and go unconscious or have a heart attack. Now she’s in a good psychiatric condition.”
Professor Mike Tipton, an expert in sea survival at the University of Portsmouth said at a different time of year she may not have lasted two hours.
By the time she was found by the Croatian coastguard boat about a mile away from where she started, she was too exhausted to swim. Crew member Marin Delic pulled her to safety.
Captain Lovro Oreskovic said they wrapped her in a blanket and gave her water to rehydrate and soup to warm her. She asked for pudding so they gave her a yoghurt and then she fell asleep.
David Radas, spokesman for the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, told Mailonline: “The crew’s captain said that she was very close to giving up.
“She told them when she was safely on board that the only thing she could do was to call out to them and wave her arms so the crew could spot her.
“It must have been her last ounce of strength because she was floating when they found her.”
Reporters say passengers told them Ms Longstaff quarrelled with her boyfriend shortly before going missing.
American Eddie Palladino, 60, who was on the cruise with his wife and two children, said there was an announcement from the captain.
“The railings right across the ship are very high. I’m 6ft tall and would have to climb up to get over them. She didn’t fall by accident. Her shirt was found on the deck. I’m happy she survived... it’s a miracle,” he said.
Andy Harmer, the UK and Ireland director of the Cruise Lines International Association, said cruise holidays were one of the safest forms of travel. “There are no known cases of someone acting responsibly who has accidentally fallen over the railing of a cruise ship,” he said.
Retired police man Ron Longstaff, 76, a widower from Kenilworth, learned about his daughter’s ordeal from a family member who had seen her on TV.
“He rang me and said have you seen the news?” he said. “I turned on the TV channel and couldn’t believe it. Thankfully she was safe and well. I don’t know how I would have coped if I knew she had been missing before she was found. It would have been such a worry.”
He told the Daily Mail: “She’s a heroine for surviving ten hours in the sea – it’s an amazing feat. I’m sure she was expecting to die but she kept alive by floating and not swimming.”
He also was upset about accusations she had deliberately gone overboard and passengers complaining about their holiday being disrupted.
He told Mailonline: “She must have been terrified. She would have been thinking she would expect to die after ten hours in the ocean.
“The fact she survived and not many people would is a miracle.” janet.hughes@reachplc.com