COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A passenger on Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the seas went overboard near Cozumel just off the coast of Mexico.
No one on that ship saw it.
Channel 2’s Diana Davis talked to the Cobb County man who was a passenger on another ship that rescued the man. He shot the whole thing on his iPhone.
David Hearn, of Marietta, says the seas were very rough, with high winds.
He was four days into his trip on Disney’s Magic of the Seas when, at 6:30 a.m., he heard an urgent call on Disney Magic’s P.A. system. Says Hearn, “Saying, ‘Mr. MOB, Mr. MOB, Mr. MOB, starboard side.’”
Hearn told Davis he knew that meant man overboard. He rushed to the top deck of the Disney ship.
“I saw the man floating in the water. He'd already been thrown a life jacket and some life rings from the ship,” Hearn said.
The Royal Caribbean ship was already docked in Cozumel. Hearn told Davis no one saw the man go over.
“The man had been in the water I’ve heard for about three hours. But had been treading water the whole time,” Hearn told Davis.
If Hearn is correct, the man in the water had gone overboard at about 3 a.m.
Hearn told Davis that man’s family was already on shore in Mexico on an excursion, oblivious to of what happened.
“It just amazes me how another ship can lose a passenger and not know it . His family didn't even know he was gone.”
Hearn’s video shows the lifeboat racing through the water to the man bobbing in the big waves.
Hearn says he was able to swim to the life boat, and tried to grab a rope the Disney crew then pulled him aboard the lifeboat, says Hearn.
“I have to give big kudos to the crew of the Disney Magic. I mean, how quickly they responded,” Hearn said.
"We were just on the right path at the right time. If we'd been several yards further from him his screams for help he would never have been heard. If we'd been closer it could have been very tragic and the ship could have run over him."
The man was taken to shore. Miraculously, the man overboard was apparently OK.
“The only time we ever saw him again was when we actually docked. There was an ambulance waiting in Mexico. He was sitting up and waving at everybody and everybody on the ship was waving and clapping just glad to see that he was OK,” says Hearn.
It was Hearn’s first time out with his new cell phone. He told Davis he never thought he’d capture such dramatic video.