27 people jump off boat into shark-filled waters to escape fire

Friday, August 2, 2019

Sixteen passengers and 11 crew members, some of whom did not know how to swim, were forced to make the difficult decision once smoke filled their vessel and they could not breathe any longer. Making their decision scarier was the knowledge that some passengers had seen sharks earlier in the day.

“We have to jump in,” someone can be heard saying in the chaotic video.

“It was a perfect trip until the last night when the boat caught fire,” reporter Lisa Bartley, who happened to be on the boat, told a TV channel.

Fellow passenger Dana Kirk said, “All hell broke loose, smoke filled the boat, they told us there was a fire in the engine. I didn’t know if I was supposed to stay on board a burning boat or jump into the water with sharks.”

Other passengers included a future bride and groom and their families, plus a family from the San Francisco area.

They were stuck treading water in life jackets in the water for more than an hour.

Guide Malena Cruz had told the group to swim toward the island and look for a lighthouse.

Eventually, they were able to climb into life rafts which hadn’t been working initially.

“Once we got on the life raft, I knew we were going to be safe,” Kirk added. They were stuck there for over two-and-a-half hours until a ship answered their SOS call.

Everyone was grateful to the crew, one of whom gave up his sweatshirt to keep another member of the group warm.

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