Cruise Liner's Excursion Boat Sinks Off Mexico Coast, All Passengers Rescued

An excursion boat carrying 10 tourists from the Royal Caribbean International’s Navigator of the Seas and Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Equinox sank off the shores of Cozumel in Mexico on Jan. 3, hardly 15 minutes after the boat began its journey from the island.

The passengers from the two cruise liners had started their journey from South Florida and were on an excursion in Mexico. But their fun turned into a nightmare when the boat began to take on water and started sinking. This is the second accident in less than a month’s time involving American cruise passengers on excursion.

According to a report in the Miami Herald, the crew members on the boat asked the passengers on board to move towards the bow — the front portion of a boat. But within no time, the boat began to sink and the passengers were left with no choice other than jumping into the water to save themselves.

The Mexican Navy along with the help of other boats that were nearby lent a helping hand and were able to rescue all the 10 passengers on-board. Cynthia Martinez, the spokeswoman from Royal Caribbean Cruises, told the Miami Herald that all the passengers were saved and none of them suffered serious injuries.

Martinez also confirmed that six passengers were traveling on Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Equinox and four were on Royal Caribbean International’s Navigator of the Seas. Both the cruises started their journey from Miami for a five-night excursion. The Celebrity Equinox was on an excursion to Key West, Costa Maya, Cozumel in Mexico, and George Town in Grand Cayman, while the Navigator of the Seas was on a voyage to Costa Maya and Cozumel.

One of the travelers, Thiago Koga, tweeted that she lost her cell phone, wallet, wet passport, and other things that she was carrying. She is now waiting for a reimbursement from the cruise giant.

A video of the incident was posted on YouTube. The video showed people trying to cling on to the sinking boat’s part that was above water while the rescue boats pulled the passengers on-board and helped them to be safe.

In another incident some six weeks ago, 95 German cruise passengers and a baby from the Mein Schiff 6 cruise ship were rescued after a catamaran tourist boat began to sink during an excursion to Isla de la Pasión, reported the Baja Post.

It took about 20 minutes for the rescuers to save all passengers and the crew members. The rescuers included members of private boats, diving tourism services, hotels, extreme sports and those involved in fishing. On Dec. 19, at least 12 people died when a bus carrying cruise ship passengers to Mayan ruins, south of Tulum in eastern Mexico, overturned on a highway.

In this incident also, the passengers were on an excursion from Royal Caribbean International’s Serenade of the Seas, from Fort Lauderdale, and Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Equinox, from Miami.