World's largest cruise ship rescues 14 Cuban rafters

The 14 rafters were in a boat with sail and were rescued on the high seas by the "Icon of the Seas" and taken to Honduras.

| 04/03/2024 - 9:48am (GMT-5)

The largest cruise ship in the world, the 'Icon of the Seas' (Icon of the seas), rescued 14 Cuban rafters on the high seas on Saturday and took them to Honduras.

A journalist from the local television station Roatan Speak Clearly (RHC) that reported the arrival of the ship at the cruise terminal of the Royal Caribbean company announced the rescue of the Cuban migrants.

The group of 14 men was traveling in a boat with a sail, according to a small video shared on Instagram by the user "Cubans of the world."

The information provided an -incomplete- list of the identities of the rafters.

The 13 names brought forward so far are: Jose Luis Margaret, Jose Arlen Rein, Daviel Merino Leon, Ivandi Lopez Lazo, Samuel Carrasco Garcia, Yansel Rodriguez Garcia, Hernandez Alvarez, Emilio Perdomo Martin, Yasmani Diaz, Morales Hernandez, Raudel Sannaves, Luis Angel Valdés and Lazaro Ramiro Pino Rojas.

"We do not know exactly the reference point where they were rescued," the report stated.

In February, a Carnival cruise ship rescued around twenty Cuban rafters near the shores of Miami. The group was traveling in a homemade boat and according to a video posted on TikTok, two of them were taking water from the inside with buckets.

Days later it was learned that after receiving first aid, they were transferred to a Coast Guard vessel and They remained in their custody until their repatriation to Cuba..

On January 10, the 'Icon of the Seas' docked for the first time in the port of Miami, its home port. After several weeks in the Atlantic, the ship made its first tour - without tourists - after completing its construction in a shipyard in Finland.

The Royal Caribbean cruise ship was received with a large welcome demonstration at the Pérez Art Museum.

On January 27, it set sail from Miami - it is already its first tourist trip. for a seven-day trip to the tropics that included Perfect Day at CocoCay (a private island in the Bahamas exclusively for Royal Caribbean guests); Puerto Plata, in the Dominican Republic, and San Juan, in Puerto Rico.