NBC – 2 News reports that Carnival Cruise Line’s Valor cruise ship rescued three Floridians (and their cat) just 12 miles off the coast of Cuba around 2 p.m. yesterday. The motor boat was ownded by Wes Demott of Naples. A Carnival cruise ship came to the rescue. One of the passengers, Carl Ray, recorded the rescue. The two other passengers were from Fort Myers and Port Charlotte.
Carnival issued the following statement:
On January 22, 2010 at approximately 2:00 p.m. the Carnival Valor engaged in the rescue of three U.S. citizens and a cat, after receiving a distress call from a nearby small craft vessel. All three individuals and the cat were brought onboard. According to the individuals rescued they departed Key West on January 20, and were headed towards the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula. The Carnival Valor was returning to the Port of Miami from a seven-day Caribbean cruise and arrived as scheduled at the port earlier this morning.
January 24, 2011 Update: This story is receiving a lot of press, including being covered by USA Today which has a story “Carnival Cruise Ship Sails to the Rescue of Cat Lost at Sea.” Why is it that the media will cover a cat-rescued-at-sea story but ignores the recent passenger-lost-at-sea story we covered two weeks ago??