Woman Rescued after 10 Hours in Adriatic Sea

The Coast Guard of Croatia has rescued a woman after 10 hours in the Adriatic Sea, after she fell from a cruise ship. The 46-year-old woman has identified herself as Kay Longstaff and as a citizen of Britain. The British embassy in Croatia has been informed.

After she was rescued, Kay told the media, “I fell off the back of the Norwegian Star. I was in the water for 10 hours, so these wonderful guys rescued me. I'm very lucky to be alive”.

After her rescue, she was taken to a hospital in a nearby town called Pula, for the medical checkup. It is still unclear how the woman fell overboard. According to Croatian Defence Ministry, a patrol boat and an airplane were the part of the rescue effort. The woman was spotted in the morning by a rescue swimmer from a patrol boat, she was about 1.3km away from the spot where she fell into the sea.

The rescue vessel’s captain, Lovro Oreskovic, said she was found on Sunday, “She was exhausted, when we saw her, may be because of continuous swimming. We were extremely happy for saving a human life”.

On the other hand, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Spokesperson confirmed that a guest had gone overboard while the ship was on its way from Vargarola to Venice, “In the morning of August 19, a guest went overboard as Norwegian Star made her way to Venice. The Coast Guard was notified and a search and rescue operation ensued. We are pleased to advise that the guest was found alive, is currently in stable condition, and has been taken ashore in Croatia for further treatment”.

The Croatian Foreign office has confirmed about the accident and said, “We are very happy that the individual, who is a UK resident is now safe and will soon be reunited with friends and family soon”. Now with her recovery, the government of Croatia has ordered an investigation, under what circumstances the incident occurred.

The accident occurred, after a few weeks of another such accident where a cruise ship worker fell while traveling on the Norwegian Getaway, which is also run by Norwegian Cruise Line and was left stranded in the Gulf of Mexico. In another incident in July, a 33-year-old citizen of Philippines was rescued, 22 hours after being spotted 42km away from the coastguard search zone. In May this year, 80-year-old Australian man fell off the Sun Princess cruise ship while travelling from Indonesia to Malaysia.