A Disney Cruise Line's ship stopped for 4 hours yesterday, August 5, to rescue migrants stranded on a small vessel in the Mediterranean.
The Disney Magic cruise ship, carrying around 2,000 tourists aboard, including Britons from Sicily to Palma de Mallorca, made an emergency stop after seeing flares launched by a desperate group of around ten men.
The men were stranded about 70 miles south of Sardinia.
Disney passengers - hundreds of parents and children - looked on as the men huddled crying for help. They flew the Algerian flag and waved T-shirts to grab attention of the crew.
They also held up a sign saying “I heard they are coming to save us from the water”.
The alerted Italian coastguard eventually came to their rescue after 4 hours of waiting in the sea.
Disney guests and crew cheered and waved when they saw the men led to safety on the rescue boat.