AUSTRALIA-based Sea Princess rescued three seafarers who had taken to a life raft after their ship sank in the South Caribbean Sea.
The Marine Rescue Coordination Centre in Curaçao in the Lesser Antilles asked the cruise ship to head to the rescue scene after distress calls were received from the stricken vessel.
The ship sailed 60 nautical miles to reach the three sailors where a fast rescue boat was lowered to retrieve them from the life raft just before midnight.
A tanker had been standing by but had been unable to lower a rescue boat in the prevailing conditions.
After being picked up from the life raft, the three seafarers were taken aboard Sea Princess and admitted to the ship’s medical centre. They were reported to be well in spite of their ordeal.
Princess Cruises senior vice president Asia Pacific Stuart Allison said the Sea Princess team acted in the highest maritime traditions by going to the aid of fellow sailors in peril on the sea.
“Our guests on Sea Princess [including about 2000 Australians] have seen seamanship at its best while observing this rescue mission as it happened,” he said.
Sea Princess resumed passage for what will now be a delayed arrival at the Curaçao capital of Willemstad before navigating the Panama Canal on Tuesday on the ship’s homeward leg to Sydney across the Pacific Ocean.
