THE world's largest cruise ship rescued 14 people stranded at sea after passengers spotted them while having their lunch.
The castaways had been drifting away for eight days before waving a large white flag and climbing aboard the Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas on Sunday, according to reports.
The ship's captain said he did not know where the group came from and it remains unclear as to how they ended up in this situation.
Regardless, eagle-eyed passengers had noticed them desperately trying to get their attention just one day into their eight-day vacation from Miami to Honduras.
Alessandra Amodio, who was travelling on the Icon of the Seas with her family, estimated from a map that the vessel was between Cozumel, Mexico and western Cuba when the rescue happened.
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"We were really surprised and honestly a little freaked out," she told Fox Weather. "We’ve been on a handful of cruises and never seen something like this happen.
"It was crazy to think that these people were stuck at sea for so long, and we were all on board excited and relieved that the ship was able to rescue them."
Passengers could not believe their eyes as they peered out of the windows from the lunch buffet, with multiple people filming the ordeal.
Videos on social media show the tiny boat stranded far out at sea, before its passengers return to safety aboard a rescue boat.
According to Amodio, crew made several trips to the small boat to rescue everyone, with the whole process taking about two hours.
"The boat turned around, and we pulled up as close as we could to them and stopped," she siad. "RCC (Royal Caribbean) deployed a small zodiac-type rescue boat to investigate.
"Everyone around us was watching from the windows with us and just talking about how this isn’t something we ever thought to experience, and we hoped everyone on board was OK.
"But never were we afraid for ourselves."
After the alarm had been raised by passengers, crew quickly broadcast "Code Oscar, Code Oscar, Code Oscar," over the loudspeakers, at about 3pm according to Amodio.
She added that the captain then announced a distressed vessel had been spotted and the ship was going to turn around and investigate.
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After the rescue, the captain confirmed that 14 people had been saved but he did not know what country they came from.
The following day, all the rescued people left the ship as it docked in Roatan, Honduras.
Following the rescue operation, Royal Caribbean said in a statement: "On March 3, 2024, Icon of the Seas encountered a small vessel adrift and in need of assistance.
"The ship’s crew immediately launched a rescue operation, safely bringing 14 people onboard. The crew provided them with medical attention, and is working closely with the U.S. Coast Guard."
According to maritime law, a ship and crew have a legal and moral obligation to help save human life.
"A master of a ship at sea, which is in a position to be able to provide assistance on receiving a signal from any source that persons are in distress at sea, is bound to proceed with all speed to their assistance," stated the International Maritime Organisation.
Code Oscar is unique to Royal Caribbean, according to Marine Insight, and is usually used when a person falls overboard.
Captains use the signal instead of shouting orders to "prevent the potentiality of chaos."
The Sun has reached out to the US Coastguard for comment.
