A Carnival Cruise Line ship rescued more than two dozen migrants off the coast of Cuba after they signaled for help from a small wooden boat.
The cruise ship set sail from Tampa, Florida, on Sunday, but diverted its course hours later after the crew on board spotted a group of 27 migrants seeking help about 20 miles from Cuba.
The migrants, made up entirely of Cuban citizens, were helped onto board before receiving food and medical care, it reports. fox13.
Cruise ship staff notified the U.S. Coast Guard, however, it is unclear if the migrants remained on board after the ship made a scheduled stop in Roatán, Honduras.
The cruise is scheduled to end in Florida on Thursday, where officials typically repatriate Cuban citizens to Cuba under similar circumstances. Before the rescue mission, the US Coast Guard said it had repatriated 348 migrants to Cuba in fiscal year 2024, which began in October 2023.
Footage captured the moment more than two dozen Cuban migrants were saved from a makeshift wooden boat about 20 miles off the coast of Cuba on Sunday.
The group of migrants were offered food and medical care while the US Coast Guard was called to the Carnival Paradise cruise ship.
The rescue mission came when crews aboard the 70,000-ton Carnival Paradise ship, which houses more than 2,100 guests and nearly 1,000 employees, diverted course after seeing migrants calling for help.
Crews aboard the 70,000-ton Carnival Paradise ship, which houses more than 2,100 guests and nearly 1,000 employees, altered course around 2:30 p.m. as they headed to Roatán.
Despite the diversion, the cruise ship arrived at its scheduled port in Mahogany Bay on Monday as scheduled, the cruise ship said.
The next ship will arrive at the port of Cozumel, Mexico, on Tuesday before concluding its journey in Tampa, Florida, on Thursday. Voyages on the five-day cruise start at $464.
The latest heroics aboard the Carnival Paradise cruise ship were not the first time it has been used to save stranded migrants.
In 2019, a sailor was rescued near Cozumel, Mexico, and more than 20 migrants were saved in two separate incidents in 2022 by staff aboard the cruise ship, according to Travel and tours around the world.
That same year, dramatic footage also captured a rescue mission aboard an 11-night Caribbean cruise from Rotterdam in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, where 14 people were saved when a Category 1 storm hit.
Earlier this month, another group of 16 migrants were rescued from a makeshift boat near the coast of Florida, when the US Coast Guard released a shocking image of the makeshift boat used.
Sixteen immigrants aboard the boat made of planks, wood and debris were picked up by agents before being repatriated to Cuba.
“The primary mission of the Coast Guard is to preserve human life at sea,” Lt. Matthew Miller of the Seventh Coast Guard District said at the time.
Earlier this month, another group of 16 migrants were rescued from a makeshift boat near the coast of Florida, when the US Coast Guard released a shocking image of the makeshift boat used.
The Carnival Paradise cruise ship (pictured) has carried out similar rescue missions in previous years, including saving more than 20 migrants in two separate efforts in 2022.
‘The maritime environment is inherently dangerous. The Coast Guard and our HSTF-SE partners are committed to preventing unsafe travel at sea and enforcing U.S. immigration laws and regulations,’ Miller added.
“Don’t go to sea.”
Following the rescue mission, the US Coast Guard said it had repatriated 348 migrants to Cuba in fiscal year 2024, which began in October 2023.
Efforts to enter the United States illegally by boat have increased in recent years, with violence and unrest in neighboring Haiti prompting an increase in bold attempts.
On Friday, two days before the rescue of the Carnival Paradise cruise ship, Miami-Dade County police marine patrol officers detained a yacht that turned out to be smuggling more than 30 Haitian immigrants.
The stop was near Key Biscayne, Florida, and took place aboard a 60-foot luxury yacht, with the migrants kept in a narrow cabin below deck, the report reports. The Miami Herald.