A Disney Treasure cruise ship rescued four people off a sinking boat Sunday morning.
The Coast Guard received a distress call around 8:30 a.m. from a 50-foot catamaran, dubbed the Serenity, located around 230 nautical miles off the coast of Bermuda. The boat was disabled after a gasket failure in the escape hatch and was beginning to take on water.
After the boat asked for help, the Coast Guard issued a broadcast. The nearest asset was the Disney Treasure, which was around 80 miles away.
The cruise ship, which was sailing from Eemshaven in the Netherlands to its new home in Port Canaveral, Florida, responded to the call and sent out one of its small boats.
Rescuers got all four people off the boat between 1 p.m. and 1:45 p.m. None of the boat's occupants had any medical concerns.
Back-to-back storm events brought record storm surge, rainfall and winds to the Tampa Bay region. The question some are asking now isn’t where people should rebuild, but where we should let nature regain control.