The crew members of the cruise liner Mardi Gras discovered a small craft in heavy waves stirred up by a tropical weather system while traveling in open waters not far from Cuba on Friday morning.
Carnival Cruise Line claimed in a news site that the crew discovered the stranded ship just before 8 a.m. The Mardi Gras came to a halt on its way to help, taking in 16 stranded persons.
According to Matt Lupoli, senior manager of public relations for Carnival, the stranded ship was around 60 nautical miles west/northwest of Key West, Florida.
According to Lupoli, all of the inmates were adults, including 11 males and five women.
He stated that those who had identification were of Cuban nationality. Onboard the Mardi Gras, medical personnel examined all 16 passengers and provided them with food and clothing.
A meeting with the US Coast Guard was planned for this afternoon at sea, according to Lupoli. At around 2:45 p.m., all 16 passengers were securely transported onto a Coast Guard cutter. Friday.
The Carnival ship went on a Caribbean trip for seven days. After a day at sea, the ship will return to Port Canaveral, Florida, on Saturday, as planned, according to Lupoli. It made many stops in the Western Caribbean, including Mexico’s Cozumel and Costa Maya, as well as Honduras’ Roatan Island.
Crew members are continually patrolling the waterways, according to Lupoli, and it is a nautical norm to assist anyone in danger at sea, as the skipper of the Mardi Gras pointed out to passengers onboard.
The stricken vessel was in a perilous situation in terms of location and weather on Friday morning.
The National Hurricane Center stated on Friday that a large swath of showers and thunderstorms over the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico might develop into Tropical Storm Alex or a tropical depression. On Saturday, the system is likely to impact Florida.
