A 44-year-old woman from El Salvador was rescued after spending nearly a day in the sea following an incident aboard a cruise ship in waters southwest of the Greek island of Zakynthos, according to the Greek Coast Guard.
The woman was located in the early hours of Saturday, October 10th, ~ 70 nautical miles southwest of Zakynthos, after the crew of a merchant vessel participating in a large-scale search and rescue operation spotted the flashing light attached to her lifebelt. She was conscious when recovered by a Coast Guard rescue vessel and received first aid on board.
The woman was subsequently transported to the mainland port of Katakolo, in the western Peloponnese, before being taken to a hospital in the nearby town of Pyrgos for medical observation and further examinations.
Authorities were alerted early on Friday that a passenger had fallen overboard from a Bahamas-flagged cruise ship ~72 nautical miles southwest of Zakynthos. The response involved two Coast Guard vessels, an Air Force helicopter and merchant ships operating in the wider area. The circumstances surrounding the incident, including how the woman entered the water and obtained the lifebelt, had not been established at the time of the announcement.
The vessel involved was identified as Odyssey of the Seas, RCI-Royal Caribbean International’s cruise ship with capacity for ~4,200 passengers. The ship had been sailing from Mykonos, Greece, towards Naples, Italy, when the incident occurred.
The search operation required the vessel to spend several hours circling in the area, resulting in the cancellation of its scheduled call at Naples. The ship adjusted its itinerary to recover the time lost during the operation before completing its voyage at Civitavecchia, Italy.
For more Odyssey of the Seas incidents and accidents, see the ship's CruiseMinus page.