Photo: Princess Cruises
Passengers on board the Regal Princesscruise shipare applauding the crew after they helped rescue two plane crash victims in the Caribbean Sea.
According7News Miami, the ship was en route to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands on Tuesday during a seven-night journey when a private plane reportedly went down about 23 miles southeast of Grand Turk Island inTurks and Caicosand the Federal Aviation Administration contacted the U.S. Coast Guard. The Coast Guard then alerted the Regal Princess, as they were the closest ship of any kind to the crash site.
As the crew sent out a life boat to rescue the two men, passengers on board the ship cheered from the deck.
“They were saved!” another passenger, John Becker,wrote on Facebookalong with video footage of the incident. “Good job to the #uscoastguardand the #regalprincess crew!”
A third cruiser, @teensign on Twitter, shared that after the rescue mission, the captain used the ship’s intercom to alert the passengers that “both people are doing well.”
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Passenger Brandon Cobos of Chattanooga, Tenn. told 7News that he thought the incident would have a different outcome after the captain alerted everyone on the ship that someone had gone overboard.
“I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh. Someonejumped off.’ It’s the kind of thing you see on social media or hear about, and then a few minutes later at the end of it, the announcement was that it was an aircraft we were going to rescue,” Cobos told the local news outlet. “I was like, ‘Oh, that’s still crazy.'”
7News also spoke with one crash victim’s wife, who said she is thankful the men were able to be rescued and she’s ready to have her husband back home soon.
Princess Cruises posted a picture on social media of the plane passengers in a life raft, writing “A small plane crashed in the Caribbean Sea, and the @USCG called on our Regal Princess crew to assist with the rescue. We’re happy to report both people are now safely onboard as the ship continues to St Thomas!”
A representative for Princess Cruises confirmed the incident to PEOPLE in a statement.
“Princess Cruises can confirm that upon request from the U.S. Coast Guard Regal Princess assisted in the rescue of two U.S. citizens whose private aircraft went down southeast of Grand Turk in the Caribbean Sea,” the representative said. “Both people rescued sailed onboard Regal Princess as the ship sailed to the next port of call St. Thomas. Regal Princess arrived in St. Thomas yesterday. Regal Princess is on day four of a seven-day Caribbean cruise.”
source: people.com
