Seven rafters were rescued by Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas on Friday afternoon, as it made its way back to Port Everglades.
“Passengers spotted a tiny blue raft in the ocean around 3 p.m. Friday, and the captain turned around the 220,000-ton ship to rescue the rafters, who were taken aboard and given food, water and medical treatment”, according to the statement from Cynthia Martinez, cruise line spokeswoman in the Orlando Sentinel.
That’s two rescues in the last few months for Royal Caribbean’s giant Oasis-class ships. Another rescue in May had Allure of the Seas coming to the aid nine Cubans.
The group of six men and one woman rescued Friday appeared to be bailing out water and praying, said Christi Nasser, a passenger from Tennessee who saw them and snapped pictures. Her photos showed the rafters looking healthy and well dressed, which may indicate that they could have been dropped off by another vessel reports the Sun Sentinel.
While little is know of the rafters, if they were Cuban immigrants their fate would be decided by the US Immigration “Wet Foot/Dry Foot ” policy that “that allows those who reach dry land in the U.S. to remain in the country. If they are intercepted at sea, the Cubans get deported.
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