Cruise passenger rescued alive off Greece after nearly a day at sea
A freighter crew located the 44-year-old woman after spotting the flashing light on her lifebelt southwest of Zakynthos, according to the Coast Guard.
Authorities said a cruise passenger was rescued alive after spending nearly a day in the sea off Greece’s Peloponnese region. The passenger was identified in a Coast Guard statement as a 44-year-old woman from El Salvador.
Authorities were notified early Friday that the woman had entered the water from a Bahamas-flagged cruise ship about 72 nautical miles southwest of the Ionian island of Zakynthos. Officials did not immediately provide information about how she entered the sea or obtained a lifebelt.
Two Coast Guard vessels, an Air Force helicopter and merchant ships operating nearby joined the search. The woman was found in the early hours of Saturday about 70 nautical miles southwest of Zakynthos after the crew of a participating freighter noticed the lifebelt’s flashing light.
The Coast Guard said the woman was conscious when rescued. Coast Guard personnel provided first aid aboard a rescue vessel before taking her to the mainland port of Katakolo in the western Peloponnese. She was then transported to a hospital in Pyrgos for observation and medical tests, according to the statement.