Cuban Refugees Near Oasis

[Bellarose]

We are just off the Oasis. Does anyone know what happened to the Cubans on the raft near the ship? I have searched the net. No news??

[Smith0154]

I have not heard anything about that recent sighting, but if the bridge or any of the crew saw the megshift boat in the water, under international maritime law the Oasis should have completed a rescue. Unless the USCG was on scene, its up to the master of the ship with the sighting to conduct a rescue for life safety.

 

Smitty

[sbtagent]

They were given food and water from the Oasis, but not taken on board as the US Coast Guard was on its way to pick them up. I have seen photos and reports in other media about this incident, - I was not on board Oasis myself. It said according to international maritime laws, you have to help people in need at sea, which was what Capt Thore Thorolvsen did.

[Smith0154]

They were given food and water from the Oasis, but not taken on board as the US Coast Guard was on its way to pick them up. I have seen photos and reports in other media about this incident, - I was not on board Oasis myself. It said according to international maritime laws, you have to help people in need at sea, which was what Capt Thore Thorolvsen did.

 

Well back to Cuba for them once the USCG retrieves them. So sad that life is still that bad in Cuba after all these years.

 

Smitty

[BillB48]

Here's a thread started earlier with some pics....

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1662508

[Cancun01]

We were on the June 3 Allure sailing.

 

We turned the ship around to pick up 5 cubans. They were brought aboard and given food, water and medical attention after their 3 days 3 nights at sea.

We picked them up 25 miles off the coast of Havana. Captain Tommy then arranged to meet a US Coast guard ship further along in our sailing towards Fort Lauderdale so we stopped again for the transfer. When we having dinner that night he came on the pa system and stated that another raft had been spotted so we had to stop again but the raft was marked that the people had been rescued.

[negc]

In that regard, has anyone heard if the investigation into the Princess ship's alleged failure to stop for refugees on a stranded boat has been completed and, if so, what the results of that inquiry were? Princess initially reported that the incident was being investigated but I haven't heard whether or not any findings had been published.

[Aquahound]

We are just off the Oasis. Does anyone know what happened to the Cubans on the raft near the ship? I have searched the net. No news??

 

They are in USCG custody pending repatriation to Cuba.

[BillB48]

In that regard, has anyone heard if the investigation into the Princess ship's alleged failure to stop for refugees on a stranded boat has been completed and, if so, what the results of that inquiry were? Princess initially reported that the incident was being investigated but I haven't heard whether or not any findings had been published.

 

I've seen nothing in regards to the official investigation, the most recent item I saw was just a blurb appearing in Don Winner's Panama Guide, an on line pub. The gist of it was in the form of a response to one of the articles Winner had written on the subject in his Panama Guide. Briefly the comment was some bridge officer was fired at the end of the cruise or shortly thereafter. Nothing more of substance as to name, rank or position... pretty vague. Here's the link, the article was dated June 14.

 

http://www.panama-guide.com/index.php?topic=news&page=2

[negc]

I've seen nothing in regards to the official investigation, the most recent item I saw was just a blurb appearing in Don Winner's Panama Guide, an on line pub. The gist of it was in the form of a response to one of the articles Winner had written on the subject in his Panama Guide. Briefly the comment was some bridge officer was fired at the end of the cruise or shortly thereafter. Nothing more of substance as to name, rank or position... pretty vague. Here's the link, the article was dated June 14.

 

http://www.panama-guide.com/index.php?topic=news&page=2

 

Thanks. I know that these investigations, when done properly, can take some time to complete. The article you attached seemed to indicate that no official investigation, other than one being conducted by Princess, was ongoing, but I thought that Bermuda officials (where the Princess ship is registered) had indicated that they were looking into the situation as well. Perhaps someone else has more information.

Thanks again.