A British woman who spent ten hours in the sea after falling off a cruise ship has claimed that “yoga fitness and singing” helped her survive in the water.
Air stewardess Kay Longstaff fell off the Norwegian Star cruise ship late on Saturday night after “spending the evening drinking”, the Daily Mail reports. The ship was sailing to Venice from the port of Vargarola in Croatia.
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She told reporters she was “very lucky to be alive” after being rescued by a Croatian coastguard patrol boat. She said: “I was in the water for 10 hours, so these wonderful guys rescued me.”
Lovro Oreskovic, the rescue boat’s captain, said Longstaff was “exhausted” when they found her and that crew members were “extremely happy for saving a human life”.
The air hostess was taken to a hospital in Pula for checks.
Norwegian Cruise Line, the firm that owns the cruise vessel, said in a statement: “We are pleased to advise that the guest was found alive, is currently in [a] stable condition and has been taken ashore in Croatia for further treatment.”
Oceanic survival expert Mike Tipton told The Sun that Longstaff was “lucky to have plunged into warm water”.
“It would have been a pretty frightening experience but everything that needed to be in place for her to survive was in place. It was warm water and it was flat, calm water.
“Being female she is going to have about ten per cent more body fat than a man so she is going to be able to float.
“The luckiest thing was they were able to find her. It really would have been like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
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