Cruise passenger survives 20 hours in water

American man gnaws on bamboo and floats through jellyfish after falling from the deck in Gulf of Mexico

A CRUISE ship passenger survived 20 hours in shark-infested waters, fighting off jellyfish and eating bamboo, after falling overboard.

James Grimes, 28, from Alabama, US, was travelling with 18 members of his family on the Carnival Valor on a cruise of the Gulf of Mexico. Having enjoyed a few drinks – including one celebrating winning an air guitar competition, Mr Grimes went missing on Nov 23 after going to the lavatory.

That was the last thing Mr Grimes, who insisted he was not drunk, remembered before regaining consciousness in the water.

His survival was aided by the water temperature, which was about 70F (21C) as he swam through two smacks of jellyfish. “When it started getting towards night-time again, the water started getting colder. At that time, I thought: ‘How much longer am I gonna have?’” Mr Grimes told ABC.

“I wasn’t going to give up at any point and just say, ‘this is it, this is the end’. It never came to that. I was determined to swim until my arms and legs could not hold my body up anymore,” he told CNN.

At one stage, Mr Grimes encountered a large fish. He said: “It came up on me really quick. I went under and I could see it. I don’t believe it was a shark. It had more of a flat mouth.

“It came up and bumped one of my legs, and I kicked it with the other leg. It scared me, not knowing what it was. All I could see was a fin.”

Fighting fatigue and confusion, Mr Grimes encountered a large stick that appeared to be bamboo.

“It gave some type of flavour in my mouth other than saltwater,” he added.

“I was trying to stay as positive as I could from the moment I regained consciousness. I can just remember thinking: ‘Wow, it’s a miracle that I’m not already dead’.”

Mr Grimes said he did not doubt that he would be rescued: “It wasn’t a matter of if I get saved or if they find me, it was a matter of when, and I just had to keep swimming until they did.”

On board the cruise ship, Mr Grimes’s sister reported him missing at noon on the day after he went overboard.

The ship retraced its route to join the massive search and rescue effort covering 200 miles of the Gulf of Mexico.

At about 8.25pm, the crew of a bulk carrier spotted Mr Grimes around 20 miles south of Southwest Pass, Louisiana. A US Coast Guard helicopter flew to the scene and hoisted Mr Grimes, who was suffering from hypothermia, shock and dehydration, out of the ocean.

Mr Grimes told his rescuer: “You’re like a guardian angel coming down for me.”

His survival was “just one of those thanksgiving miracles”, said Lt Seth Gross of the US Coast Guard.

“It’s just something you can’t take for granted and certainly something that’ll stick with me forever,” he added.

A spokesman for Carnival Cruise Line said its ships are all fitted with safety barriers to prevent a passenger from going overboard.