PORT CANAVERAL, FL (WESH/CNN) – A woman is recovering after a brush with death on a cruise ship this week.
She fell overboard as Norwegian Cruise Line’s “Norwegian Epic” ship was sailing near the Bahamas.
The ship’s crew changed course to search for the woman, eventually finding her and pulling her to safety.
The vessel docked in Florida Wednesday, and witnesses are now recounting the frightening incident.
Passengers said the trip was already off to a rocky start before the woman fell.
"The ship had missed its first port of call and the second port of call, actually," John Merritt, a witness, said.
Bad weather and rough seas forced a change of itinerary multiple times.
“The weather was not the best. We still had the swells going even coming back," said Kareen Kennedy, another witness.
On Tuesday night just before 9 p.m. came the heart-stopping moment for passengers.
"We hear an announcement come over the PA saying, ‘Code Oscar,’" Kennedy said.
“Code Oscar” is code for “man overboard.”
Merritt heard the screams of the overboard woman from his patio.
“It was very eerie out in the middle of the ocean,” Merritt said. “Pitch black, there's no land to be seen anywhere, and there were several other passengers that were on decks outside next to ours that were encouraging her to, you know, 'Don't give up, keep yelling.'"
Kennedy saw the searchlights from the 14th deck.
"I remember I went in and I prayed for about 30 seconds because I didn't know what to do," Kennedy said.
An hour later came a sight neither Merritt nor Kennedy expected to see: a rescue.
"We found a person in the water and she was picked up and she's now in the hospital, so everything is good there," the ship’s captain said in a recording after the rescue.
The woman was taken to the hospital once the ship docked at Port Canaveral.
Norwegian Cruise Line released a statement, in part saying: “We are thankful that our team reacted quickly and was able to rescue the guest.”
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