A tour boat sank while taking vacationers to the Blue Lagoon Island in the Bahamas. One person was killed and two others were hospitalized.
The double-decker ferry was almost at its island destination but not near land when it started to capsize.
About 100 passengers were on board the catamaran when it hit rough seas, according to The Associated Press. There had been a small craft advisory at the time.
Blue Lagoon Island is about three miles northeast of Nassau, according to USA Today.
One of the passengers on board recorded the boat going down with other passengers screaming and jumping into the water as the boat tilted.
Kelly Schissel shared the video on TikTok, later saying she thought the captain was trying to be “silly” by bringing the stern of the boat around quickly, Fox News reported.
The video, which has more than 19 million views, contains profanity.
Schissel had been on the top deck and said when she looked down after hearing people “freaking out a little bit” she noticed water coming onto the vessel.
Schissel said passengers were not the only ones worried about what was happening.
“One of the crew members that was downstairs ran upstairs and was crying, freaking out, absolutely bawling, grabbing a life jacket,” she said, according to Fox News, adding that crew didn’t tell the passengers what to do because they were panicking themselves.
Sarah Plourde was also on the boat, confirming that the first deck was filled with water and that she and others had to climb out a window. They were scared to leave the sinking watercraft because, “The captain wouldn’t turn the engines off, so we were scared to swim out the back due to the propeller,” she told Storyful.
Still, people did jump in and were eventually rescued by several boats. She and the other passengers on the boat as part of a planned excursion with their cruise ship were offered shirts, shoes, and food on Blue Lagoon Island before being taken back to the ship, Fox News and the Nassau Guardian reported.
One woman in her 70s from Broomfield, Colorado, was found “unresponsive” in the water, according to Bahamian officials. She was taken from the water and CPR was performed before she was taken to Paradise Island Dock where EMTs found “no signs of life,” NBC News reported.
Her cause of death has not been released, according to the Guardian.
A spokesperson for Royal Caribbean confirmed to WTVJ that she had been a passenger on their ships and was on a shore excursion.
“We are saddened to hear that one of our guests passed away following an accident on a shore excursion in Nassau, Bahamas,” the spokesperson told WTVJ in a statement. “Our hearts are with the families involved and our Care Team has been activated to support them during this difficult time.”
Two other people were taken to a hospital in New Providence. Their names and where they are from were not released.
An investigation is ongoing, the AP reported.
