A flashing light on a lifebelt led a freighter crew to a 44-year-old woman from El Salvador who had spent nearly a day alone in the Mediterranean Sea after going overboard from a cruise ship.
She went overboard from the Bahamas-flagged Odyssey of the Seas in the early hours of Friday morning, October 9, approximately 72 nautical miles southwest of Zakynthos in the Ionian Sea between Italy and Greece. The ship had been travelling from Mykonos Island, Greece, to Naples, Italy.
Authorities were notified early on Friday that she had fallen into the sea. Around 10 a.m., the captain told passengers that a woman had jumped from the ship, according to a Reddit post cited by sources. The circumstances of her fall have not been established in the information available.
Tracking data showed the Odyssey of the Seas changed course and turned back between 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. local time. It then circled a small area for several hours and remained there eight hours later, at 7:00 p.m. local time.
Two Coast Guard vessels, an Air Force helicopter and merchant ships in the wider area joined the search, with the Greek Coast Guard assisting the operation.
In the early hours of Saturday, a freighter taking part in the search found the woman approximately 70 nautical miles southwest of Zakynthos. The crew saw the flashing light on the lifebelt she was wearing. She was conscious when rescued.
Coast Guard personnel gave her first aid aboard a rescue vessel. She was then taken to Katakolo, a mainland port in the western Peloponnese, before being conveyed to a hospital in nearby Pyrgos for observation and medical tests.
There are no reports that the Odyssey of the Seas has an automatic man-overboard system.
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