Cruise ship rescues Cuban migrants stranded at sea

• Carnival Cruise ship rescues six Cuban migrants who were stranded at sea on a makeshift raft.
• Guests applaud and celebrate as the migrants approach the ship.
• Carnival Paradise was travelling from Tampa, Florida to Cozumel, Mexico.

A cruise ship last week saved six Cuban migrants who were stranded at sea on a makeshift raft, according to video provided to CNN.

As the Carnival Cruise ship Carnival Paradise cruised from Tampa, Florida to Cozumel, Mexico, a spontaneous encounter was captured on camera.

In the video, guests can be heard applauding and celebrating as the migrants approach the ship.

According to passenger Cintia Zingoni, who recorded the footage, “They didn’t have paddles.” “It wasn’t a boat at all.  It was a piece of furniture, maybe a cabinet and they made it as a boat.”

Zingoni, an Orlando, Florida, real estate agent, was on the ship with her family and friends when they saw the incident.

In her video, the migrants can be seen using what looks to be a little piece of fabric as a sail and styrofoam fastened to the sides of their boat to provide buoyancy. According to Zingoni, it also appeared that the migrants were paddling with a pot cover.

According to Carnival Cruise Lines spokesman Matt Lupoli, the migrants were welcomed on board the ship where they were given a medical checkup, food, and clothing. They were given to Mexican authorities when the boat arrived in Cozumel, he claimed.

Zingoni claims that the ship’s captain informed the passengers that although the migrants were dehydrated, they were otherwise healthy.

“I felt sad. Everyone on the boat was dancing and having fun and they were dying,” Zingoni said. “That was almost a suicide mission to go inside that piece of wood.”

Lee Smith, a fellow traveller, reported that the weather that evening deteriorated.

“As we headed toward Mexico we were going fast to make up for lost time, but there was a thunderstorm and lightning behind us in the area where we had left,” he said. “Good thing we picked up the people in the raft.”

The spectacular rescue occurs at a time when US authorities are reporting an increase in Cubans attempting to flee the communist-run island, where authorities attribute the collapse of the economy to US sanctions.

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