A major search and rescue operation was initiated on Thursday, June 27th, following an overboard of a mother and her child from a Stena Line cruiseferry crossing between Sweden and Poland.
Stena Spirit ship, while en route from Karlskrona Sweden to Gdynia Poland, contacted rescue services after the incident occurred.
Initially, there was a report of one person falling overboard, but it was later discovered that both the mother and kid were involved, as stated by Lars Blom, the head of rescue operations at the Swedish Maritime Administration's Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre (JRCC).
According to Blom, the 7-year-old boy had fallen into the sea, prompting his mother to jump in after him.
Upon receiving the report (at 4:20 pm Poland time/14:20 UTC), helicopters and boats were deployed to assist in the search. It took approximately an hour to locate both individuals, who were then transported to a hospital in Karlskrona. Blom mentioned that their condition was unknown at that time.
No further updates were available early on Friday morning.
According to the Swedish Maritime Administration, the woman was found by a helicopter, while the child was located by a rescue boat.
The search for the overboard passengers involved helicopters, several NATO ships (participating in an exercise in the area) and the ferry Stena Spirit.
(UPDATE) On July 1st, Swedish officials confirmed that both the mother and the kid lost their lives.
Both individuals were Polish citizens. The 36-year-old woman was in the water for 59 min, while the 7-year-old boy was in the water for 66 min. They were both found unresponsive.