A Jewish couple from Hertfordshire had their luxury cruise interrupted when their ship, the 1072-foot Celebrity Beyond liner, changed course to rescue over 200 migrants stranded in the Mediterranean.
The cruise, which had 3,950 passengers on board and was en route from Sicily, was scheduled to visit various destinations before docking in Naples.
Passengers Melvyn and Vivienne Ansher, who left Port Civitavecchia near Rome on Monday, recounted their experience to Jewish News. Melvyn explained, "We awoke on Tuesday to a message from the captain informing us that we were part of a rescue operation for 200 migrants whose boat had broken down in the middle of the sea."
The couple's role during the rescue operation was to act as a wind shield for the migrant boat, helping to prevent it from capsizing. The migrants were then taken on board the ship by coastguards. Melvyn expressed his sympathy, stating, "It was pitiful because we could hear them screaming and shouting." While he did not know where the migrants were from or where they were heading, he presumed that they were likely heading to mainland Europe and may have paid people traffickers a significant amount of money to seek asylum abroad. He also mentioned speaking with a crew member who informed him that rescuing migrants attempting to reach the US from Cuba is not uncommon when the ship is in the Caribbean.
It is believed that the plan is to transport the migrants to the next stop, Santorini, where they will disembark the ship. However, Melvyn was unsure about their final destination, speculating that they might be sent back to their home countries. Regardless, he emphasized that the passengers could not be angry given the immense risk the migrants faced in the middle of the sea.
FrontEx, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, revealed that there has been a significant increase in irregular border crossings reported by national authorities, with 54,000 crossings reported in the first quarter of this year, representing a 26% increase compared to the same period in 2022. More than half of these irregular crossings occur along routes across the central Mediterranean and lead into the EU.
At present, Celebrity Cruises has not provided any additional information regarding the incident.
