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On Sunday, a woman survived a fall from the 10th deck of a Royal Caribbean cruise ship. The unnamed 42-year-old U.S. resident fell into the sea about 27 nautical miles southeast of the Dominican Republic. The crew of the Mariner of the Seas ship deployed a rescue boat, quickly located her, and safely pulled her back on board, as other passengers nervously watched from the boat.
Among the witnesses was passenger Matthew Kuhn, who initially feared the worst. "After we saw the life rafts or the life preservers and the smoke,” Kuhn recalls, “I was like, ‘Someone just died.’" Kuhn's initial thought was more likely to be true than not, given that - according to the Cruise Lines International Association - from 2009 to 2019 only about 28% of cruise passengers who fell overboard were fortunate enough to be rescued.
After the woman was safely brought back onboard the main ship, the atmosphere immediately lightened and the other passengers cheered her rescue. "When they found her, it was like — people were relieved,” Kuhn says, “There was just a sense of, ‘OKAY, cool. No one died on our cruise.’” The cruise ship continued on its journey and is expected back at Port Canaveral on July 1st.
Source: NY POST