I Survived a Deadly Ferry Boat Sinking within the Bahamas: What Occurred

Kelly and Chad Schissel of Platteville, Wisconsin, have been on the final day of their trip within the Bahamas on Nov. 14, 2023, when a ship carrying them and about 100 passengers to a personal island sank.

A 74-year-old girl died following the capsizing however everybody else, together with the Schissels, survived.

Right here, Kelly, who posted footage from the dramatic incident that went later viral on TikTok, shares her story with PEOPLE’s David Chiu, in her personal phrases.

It was a very nice day. We had all gotten on a double-decker ferry to Blue Lagoon Island and the trip was somewhat bumpy however no completely different from being on any boat within the water.

We have been having enjoyable and listening to music, however then we out of the blue lurched ahead. We simply thought, “Okay, no matter,” till we stayed leaning ahead. Then one of many crew members from the underside degree got here upstairs crying and freaking out and grabbed herself a life jacket.

We appeared over the sting and that is after we noticed the water beginning to enter the ferry.

After getting life jackets of our personal, we sat there ready for workers to inform us what to do, however they by no means did. Finally, it received to the purpose the boat was tipping a lot that we simply began leaping out. 

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There have been infants being nursed on that boat trip all the way in which to 90 12 months olds, and everybody in between. Some folks knew learn how to swim, however some did not.

There was a fisherman’s boat that occurred to go by and since I am an excellent swimmer, I used to be capable of attain it, though it wasn’t simple by any means.

After I received into the boat, all people appeared the identical with the orange life jackets on and I could not discover my husband. Then I noticed we had gotten separated.

He has a defibrillator, so I questioned, “If he will get shocked from the stress of this, what occurs?” Nonetheless, though he is not the perfect swimmer, and had not too long ago undergone reconstructive surgical procedure on his ankle, I assumed he must be okay.

Then somebody from the fisherman’s boat mentioned, “We won’t match anyone else in right here.” I replied, “Properly, go drop us off [at Blue Lagoon Island] and are available again out.”

At that time, one other double-decker ferry confirmed up and thankfully, that is the place Chad ended up.

When Chad arrived [on land after being separated] and noticed me standing there on the dock, he began crying as a result of he was relieved I used to be okay.

As soon as all people received to land, we have been all directed to this one small space of the island the place we may very well be secluded from all people else. We have been over there for most likely an hour or two as a result of they needed to double rely, triple rely and every part. [The island’s staff] supplied all people shirts and footwear as a result of a number of us misplaced all our stuff within the water. 

After that, they mentioned, “Okay, all people has to get on a ship that appears precisely the identical because the one which simply sank and return [to the cruise ship].” I requested, “Do we’ve the choice to remain if we wish to? We already made it right here.” However they mentioned no.

We received loaded proper onto one other boat. There have been youngsters crying, “I do not wish to sink once more. I do not wish to go swimming,” so we drained to calm them down. Quite a lot of adults have been even carrying life jackets on the way in which again. My husband requested if I needed to, however I mentioned, “There isn’t a method they’ll sink two boats with the identical group of individuals. They’ll go 2 miles an hour the entire method again. We’ll be tremendous.”

As soon as again on Nassau, Chad and I simply walked round for somewhat bit and tried to take pleasure in the remainder of the day.

Once we have been nonetheless over in that secluded space of Blue Lagoon Island, we heard one individual say a woman had died. After which somebody replied, “Do not say that. You do not know that.” Once we ultimately received again onto the cruise ship, I heard extra folks speaking about it.

Because it turned out, the lady, who was on the underside degree of the sunken ferry boat, had an oxygen tank and it received moist and caught, so she ended up blacking out on the boat due to a scarcity of oxygen. As soon as they received her out, she was on a rescue boat that took her to the island. They have been doing CPR, however they simply could not convey her again.

Afterwards, we needed to go to the customer support desk as a result of my husband misplaced his key card, which we swipe for meals, drinks and to get into our room. We have been additionally presupposed to fill out a type for every part broken or misplaced. They did refund our cruise. They despatched us an e-mail giving us an replace on that after we have been again on land.

To our information, Royal Caribbean continues to be investigating every part. We haven’t been instructed formally what triggered the accident. I believe the captain simply turned in too quick and with the uneven waters, it simply stuffed up an excessive amount of.

[Royal Caribbean referred PEOPLE’s questions to officials on Blue Lagoon Island, whom Royal Caribbean said operated the tour. Blue Lagoon did not respond.]

I’ve seen so many issues. I used to work at a jail and I’ve seen so many various automotive accidents — and been in just a few myself. I swear these items occurs to me on a regular basis, which is why I used to be like, “Chad, I will take a video as a result of no one’s ever going to consider me that this occurred.”

I believe the TikTok video is at 27.2 million proper now for views. I assumed it will be a giant story, however I did not know it will be that massive.

Lots of people ask me, “Would I ever even go on one other boat once more?” And I am like, “Yeah. I’d even take the identical precise boat that we used and return to that very same precise place. Simply give me a special [ferry boat] crew as a result of they did not know what was occurring.” 

And my recommendation is that once they let you know learn how to placed on life jackets and what to do if there may be an emergency, at the very least listen and have an exit plan in thoughts.