Cruise ships bound for Florida rescue Cuban migrants

Two US cruise ships rescued a total of 24 migrants in the Caribbean yesterday. The people were in small boats floating north of Cuba.

The crew of the Celebrity Beyond cruise ship spotted a boat in the distance in the afternoon, after which the captain decided to turn the massive ship around for a rescue. In a video on Instagram shows the captain how nineteen Cubans are brought aboard and how the blankets are wrapped up.

Karel van Vliet from Waalwijk was on board the cruise ship with family members and closely watched the rescue operation.

“That boat was really miserably small,” he tells NOS. “Homemade, no motor and with six oars. The sea was rough with high waves, it’s a miracle they survived the ship. They pulled very carefully alongside.”

Van Vliet also made pictures of the boat:

Van Vliet says the rescue operation made a big impression on him and his family. “As a westerner, you sit in such a beautiful boat and see people risking their lives in such an enterprise.”

Crew members of the Miami-bound cruise ship Carnival Celebration also saw migrants stranded at sea. Five Cubans were rescued from their drifting boat. The US Coast Guard later removed them from the cruise ship and took them into custody.

The Van Vliet cruise ship arrived today at the port of Fort Lauderdale in Florida. Van Vliet says he heard from the captain that the nineteen rescued migrants have been handed over to local authorities.

Due to the difficult economic situation in Cuba, many residents are currently looking to come to the United States. A record 220,000 Cubans were detained at the border crossing with Mexico last year. A small group of others are trying to make the crossing from Cuba to Florida, which is 150 kilometers away.

In recent days, hundreds of Cubans have arrived in the uninhabited island group of Dry Tortugas, the westernmost tip of Florida.