Britons in Caribbean rescued as 13 killed in boat terror
A BRITISH newlywed couple have been rescued from the sea during their Caribbean honeymoon after their ferry capsized, drowning 13 others.
Charlotte and Edward Beckett were among 21 people who were pulled alive from the sea when the boat was hit by a huge wave off the coast of Nicaragua.
The victims – ten women, two men and a child – were tourists from Costa Rica. The boat’s captain, who was rescued, has been arrested after allegedly sailing without permission in bad weather.
Mr and Mrs Beckett, from Hampstead, North London, whose wedding last August was attended by retail guru Mary portas, were on a belated honeymoon. Mrs Beckett, 28, a lawyer, had posted pictures online of herself relaxing in a pool with her 30-year-old husband in an eco-lodge on Nicaragua’s Ometepe island.
The couple, who were not badly hurt, are recovering in the capital Managua.
Yesterday Mrs Beckett’s father Martin Rainsford, from gospel Oak, London, said: ‘We got a call at midnight last night from them to say they were OK.
‘We didn’t know anything was wrong so it was a shock but we are very relieved. We are very sorry for the other families who have lost people.’
The boat, known as Reina del Caribe, or Caribbean Queen, was travelling between the Corn Islands, a popular destination for snorkelling and scuba diving in the Caribbean Sea, when it was overturned by a wave around 1.30pm on Saturday.
The skipper Hilario Blandon, 53, also reported as the boat’s owner, was rescued and arrested along with his assistant, 30-year-old Eliot Absalon prats Carter.
Military police chief general Francisco Diaz said: ‘Both are under arrest and will be tried for manslaughter and exposing people to danger.’
A Nicaraguan government spokesman said those responsible would be held accountable.
The Becketts, who married in a lavish black tie ceremony on the greek island Monemvasia, recently relocated from London to Boston.
The Foreign Office said it was ‘providing consular assistance to affected Britons’.