Sailing in the south Caribbean, Princess Cruises' ship Sea Princess was asked to carry out a rescue operation by the Marine Rescue Coordination Centre in Curacao in Lesser Antilles, following distress calls received from a sinking boat.
Mid-way through a Princess' world voyage with around 2,000 passengers on board, the liner immediately turned around and sailed nearly 60 nautical miles to reach the 3 sailors, where a fast rescue boat was lowered in order to retrieve their life raft, just before midnight on Sunday, July 28.
Also on the rescue scene was a tanker which was unable to lower a rescue boat due to the choppy waters.
After the rescue, the relieved sailors were taken on Sea Princess and admitted to the vessel’s medical centre. Luckily, they all were well.
After her rescue mission, Sea Princess resumed sailing and arrived in the capital of Curacao, Willemstad, only slightly delayed. The iconic ship continued on her cruise to the Panama Canal, prior to sailing to Sydney across the Pacific.
For other Sea Princess accidents and incidents see the ship's CruiseMinus page.