Two British tourists have had a miraculous escape after the classic sailing boat they were travelling on was struck and sunk by a cargo ship in the Caribbean Sea near Colombia.
Dawn Collision and Dramatic Rescue
The near-tragedy unfolded in the early hours of January 3, just before 5am local time, off Colombia's Caribbean coast near Cartagena. The Colombian Ministry of Defence confirmed its sailors rescued 20 people from the water following a rapid response to a distress call.
According to Commander Felipe Portilla of the Cartagena Coastguard Station, the alarm was raised at around 4.40am after a Mayday alert was received. The call reported that a sailboat travelling between Panama and Colombia had sunk near Bocachica. A Rapid Response Unit was immediately dispatched.
"The people rescued were in life rafts when the two rapid response vessels that were mobilised located them," Commander Portilla stated. All 20 individuals on board, including the captain, three crew members, and 16 passengers of various nationalities, had managed to evacuate into emergency life rafts after the collision.
International Passengers and a 'Hollywood Star' Vessel
The Colombian Navy confirmed the diverse group of survivors included two British nationals, six Germans, four French citizens, two Swiss, three Colombians, and three others from Italy, Belgium and Turkey.
The sunken vessel was identified as the Alessandra, a New Zealand-built classic topsail schooner. Its Italian skipper, Rudolf Gamberoni, who runs adventurous voyages billed online as "pirate trips", spoke after the incident. "A small cargo vessel hit us and made a big hole in our side. It didn’t have any lights. Our boat sank in a question of just a few minutes," he recounted, expressing gratitude to the coastguards for their swift action.
Promotional material describes the Alessandra as a "Hollywood star" due to its appearance in the iconic 1994 film Legends of the Fall, starring Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins and Julia Ormond. The tourists were thought to be nearing the end of a five-day, four-night tour that began in Panama's San Blas Islands on December 30, having celebrated New Year's Eve on board. The trip reportedly cost just over £500 per person.
Investigation and Miraculous Survival
Video footage released by the rescuers showed the shaken travellers being helped to safety in the darkness. Upon reaching dry land, they were checked over by doctors and emotionally hugged one another, having survived completely unharmed.
Authorities are now working to identify the cargo vessel involved in the collision. Local reports suggest its skipper may not have realised a collision had occurred in the dark, as the ship continued its journey without stopping.
In an official statement, Colombia's Ministry of Defence reaffirmed its "commitment to the protection of human life at sea, security, and the control of our maritime borders." For the two unnamed British tourists and their 18 fellow travellers, that commitment resulted in a second chance after a terrifying start to the new year.
