MIRACLE!

AFRAS awarded a special plaque to the Carnival Cruise Line ship “ Holiday ” in New Orleans on 4 October in recognition of a truly miraculous rescue made by the cruise liner.

The Holiday was sailing in the Yucatan Straits during the night of 21 August, 2004 when some passengers and two of the crewmembers standing on a weather deck aft heard what they believed could have been a cry for help. Chief Electrician Pavic and Third Engineer Vincetic immediately went to bridge at 8:32PM to report that they were not sure, but they thought they had heard some screaming from the sea. The bridge conning officer Mladina did not hesitate and immediately hit the “Man Overboard” button on the ship’s GPS plotter, released the port side MOB smoke and light signal and a life-ring, while at the same time slowed the ship and called Captain Orazio D’Aita to the bridge. The captain also did not hesitate to turn the ship around and to initiate man overboard procedures, including a muster of the crew and passengers. A “Pan Pan” call (signaling distress, but not yet a serious threat to life like a “Mayday”) was issued over the radio. The ship proceeded carefully back along its track to the GPS position of the reported MOB and by 9:15 PM the forward lookouts reported hearing screams coming from the water. The strong ship’s search light illuminated two persons in the water off the port side of the ship.

A rescue tender was launched with ship’s officers Mazi and Collela aboard and by 9:22 had recovered two Mexicans who were in good condition, but were taken directly to ship’s infirmary for evaluation and treatment. The two survivors, however, reported that there were three other survivors out there, so the search continued.

The rescue boat proceeded in an expanding circle away from the ship in waves of about 5 feet high and haze. The officers ran for several minutes along the course directed by the Holiday and then stopped to listen. They could hear cries for help, but in the haze and at night could not determine the direction they were coming from. Finally, almost precisely three hours after the initial report of screams from the water, the other three survivors were located and brought aboard the rescue tender. One was a ten year old boy and another – his 39 year old father – was not wearing a life jacket (PFD) but was clinging to a piece of wood. These three were also treated in the infirmary where it was discovered that they were slightly hypothermic. The survivors were from a recreational fishing boat that had sunk suddenly more than nine hours prior to the arrival of the Holiday . The survivors were transferred to a Mexican Coast Guard cutter and the cruise liner continued on to its scheduled port call in New Orleans .

This rescue was not only miraculous, it also reflects the greatest traditions of the sea – including the willingness of sailors to come to the aid of others in distress. Holiday participates in the voluntary AMVER alerting system where the US Coast Guard asks participating ships to divert from course to come to the rescue of others.

ince this was a “come upon” and Holiday was the only ship on scene, it served quite effectively as the on-scene search coordinator and rescuer. AFRAS was most impressed with first the decision to stop the ship and initiate man overboard procedures on the basis of a report of “I thought I heard screams from the sea”, and the professionalism of the bridge watch and the rescue boat crew in carrying out the search. Five very lucky fishermen are alive today because Captain D’Aita was ready to stop his ship and carry out a three and one half hour diversion from course to conduct search operation