A British holidaymaker captured the moment a cruise ship came to the aid of an overcrowded boat taking migrants on a perilous journey across the Ionian Sea. The stricken vessel was adrift 112 nautical miles south-west of the Greek coastal town of Pylos when the Royal Caribbean liner’s crew diverted to answer the distress call. The captain made an emergency announcement, saying that all ships in the area had been requested to attend the sinking boat, as the liner altered course en-route to Santorini.
The luxurious Odyssey of the Seas, which is 1,138ft long and has 16 decks, launched two smaller boats to bring the drifting vessel alongside and transfer 77 people onboard. The occupants included 36 men, seven women and 34 children. Kevin Gibbons, 41, an ex-pat from the UK who lives in Spain, watched the rescue unfold on Monday night.
‘The crew did an amazing job, sending out two rescue boats to tow the overloaded sinking boat back to the cruise ship,’ he said. ‘Where you can see they were all transferred to the cruise ship awaiting the arrival of the coast guard and authorities to take over. ‘I understand it’s international law to rescue any sinking ship or distress call at sea, I totally accept it’s the right thing to do, but surely the whole world, including the rich states need to do more to assist and deter these deathly attempts to reach Europe.
’ Twenty-seven of the rescued were transferred to a Hellenic Coast Guard patrol boat and the remaining 50 onto the P.