Twelve Refugees Rescued by the Norwegian Prima in the Gulf of Mexico
In the middle of the afternoon on July 27th, 2024 we were on a cruise originating in Galveston, Texas on the Norwegian Prima. From the Observation Lounge on deck 17, we saw a small sail boat. It was impossible to make out details, we just could tell it was tiny, had a square sail, and was a couple hundred miles from any land and slowly heading north. At this point, we didn’t take too much notice and went about our way.
The crew of the NCL Prima did take notice however, we later found out that the tiny makeshift craft was signaling to the ship using a mirror and we saw photos taken of the bridge crew on the bridge with binoculars watching them.
Before we knew what was going on, the ship slowed and turned around to return to this boat to rescue the refugees on board.
As we got closer we could see that there were 12 souls on board. The boat was patched together pieces of metal, foam, and plastic jugs. They had what appeared to be 6 large water jugs, 3 were empty. It is impossible to know how long their water supply would last but on their present heading, they had around 350 miles before landfall on the current path.
The 12 on board looked emaciated, 3 woman and 9 men. They ranged in age from around 20 to maybe 60. You could see the effects of starvation and dehydration in their faces and pronounced ribs. To think what unspeakable horrors they were trying to escape where this seemed like the better alternative.
As they came along side, the Prima launched a lifeboat to go out and retrieve the refugees. In an obvious attempt to avoid photographing evidence for any lawsuit that could come from a botched rescue attempt, the ships loudspeaker announced that no photos were to be taken. While I understand this from a legal exposure standpoint, many passengers took this to mean that there was some rules or laws around photographing this scene. There are not. There is no special maritime law that states that you have any different rules at sea, than at home. If you are in a public venue (the ocean), there is no expectation of privacy and photographs are fair game. They can create rules of what you can and cannot photograph on the ship, that is their private property, what is over the rail is public domain. This was purely a CYA attempt by the cruise line.
As the lifeboat approached the makeshift boat, they did a circling pass at about a 20-30 foot distance to try to get an accurate view and count of those onboard. If there was any sign that there were people hiding or if there was any implied threat, the mission would be scrubbed. The rescue went without incident, the lifeboat tied up to the makeshift raft and pulled the women, then the men on board and 6 at a time. The specially trained crew on the boat are equipped to handle 6 people if trouble started but not more.
The refugees need to leave all their belongings behind and only come on board with the clothes on their backs. They were given the choice by the NCL crew, leave everything or stay on the boat they were on. The clothes they had would later be burned.
Once on board, the refugees were able to shower and given new clean clothes. The medical team administered IVs of fluids and they were given yogurt to eat as a large meal would shock their systems. They, and the crew that were attending to them were kept in an isolated, secure facility until the 12 were safely in the custody of the Mexico authorities.
The twelve would be delivered to the authorities in Costa Maya, Mexico the following day.
Once arriving at Costa Maya Mexico, the Mexican authorities were on hand in force. Two passenger vans were there to transport the refugees, an ambulance was on hand, and two military pickup trucks, one with a 50 caliber gun on a turret on top. In all, there were around 20-25 soldiers or military police officers on hand and 4 medical personnel. They appeared to be documenting every move on their phones.
As the refugees were brought off the Prima, 4 were now in wheel chairs. One made the sign of the cross as soon as he stepped on land, many waved and yelled thank you to the hundreds of spectators on the ship. While most people cheered there were some boos. These 12 people are human beings. Their lives being saved is not something to boo about.
This was not the first time the Prima had picked up refugees at sea. The cruise line has an agreement with the Mexican government that if refugees are delivered to Mexican authorities, they will be allowed to stay in Mexico until due process is carried out.
We later learned more of the backstory through a guest who had dinner with the Captian. The refugees left Cuba trying to get to Cancun Mexico on December 19th so they were adrift for 39 days. They had a small motor on the craft when they set out but it soon quit and they dumped it overboard. After that they just had their makeshift sail but were being blown off course to the north. They ran out of food before the new year began and had been out of starving for around 30 days.
While the majority of the passengers onboard the Prima were supportive of the rescue and the plight of these human beings, not all were and this was frankly disappointing. We heard comments like:
“This is our tax doors being wasted” um, no, this is a Bahamian flagged ship in international waters, there are zero tax dollars going to this. Just your drink money….
“I wonder if they have guns?” Remember this was a Texas based cruise? The people are trying to escape oppression and violence in their home land, do you really think that is what they are going to bring with them?
“If this makes us even one minute late to port, I’m going to ask for my money back”. Ok Karen, you should put down your pina colada and go talk to Guest Services, I am sure your plight will be taken into account.
I had posted the closeup view of the refugees in their boat on social media and on Monday, a reporter from Fox26 in Houston reached out and we did a phone interview. Here is a link to their piece:
The comments on the Facebook link to the video are sad in so many ways. This world needs more people like Capitan Gustavsen who will stop to save lives and less who turn 12 starving human beings into the boogie man because of the color of their skin. If you don’t think race is a factor in the derogatory comments, imagine if I said that 12 white kids from Syracuse University were rescued in their Hobby-craft when the trust fund money ran out, do you think you would see the same hate being spewed through the thumbs of the commenters?
We have been on 9 cruises so far, we had never seen anything like this before and it was an experience we will never forget.