A Carnival cruise ship rescued 27 Cuban nationals found adrift and signalling for help roughly 20 miles west of Cuba this weekend.
The small wooden boat was in visibly poor condition, fitted with a makeshift sail and crowded with passengers, video shared with Fox 13 shows.
The cruise ship’s bridge team turned around the Carnival Paradise on its route from Tampa to Roatan, Honduras to rescue the Cubans around 2:30 pm. Sunday.
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Staff on the bridge of the Carnival Paradise turned the cruise liner around to rescue 27 Cuban nationals signaling for help aboard a small wooden boat floating 20 miles from shore. (Bart Wester)
All 27 passengers were taken aboard, fed and checked by medical personnel, the outlet reported.
Roatan officials and the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Key West were notified. Neither the Coast Guard sector nor Carnival Cruise Line could immediately be reached for comment.
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The Cubans were taken aboard, fed and examined by medical personnel. It wasn’t immediately clear where they are now. (Bart Wester)
The ship’s itinerary was not impacted, the liner wrote in a press release, and cruise-goers will reach Roatan’s Mahogany Bay today on schedule. Before returning to port in Tampa on April 25, the ship is scheduled to stop in Cozumel, Mexico on April 23.
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The Carnival Paradise was on its way to Roatan, Honduras from Tampa, Florida when the Cubans were spotted. (Photo by ANDY NEWMAN/AFP via Getty Images)
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This wasn’t the first rescue carried out by the more than 70,000 ton ship, Travel and Tour World reported. A sailor was saved by the liner’s crew in 2019, and 20 stranded individuals were taken onto the ship in two separate 2022 incidents near Cuba, the outlet reported.
