This is the crucial moment beautiful influencer spots a stranded ship with six survivors and one dead fisherman while recording stories and she then helps with their rescue.
Influencer Laura Alvarenga Pires Lima was recording stories for her 106,000 Instagram followers during a cruise ship trip when she heard the screams for help in the municipality of Angra dos Reis, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Sunday, 19th November.
The shipwrecked fishermen reportedly went fishing on Saturday, 18th November but their boat was hit by strong winds and ended up adrift, according to local media.
The footage shows Laura recording the sea from the cruise ship when she seemingly spots the stranded boat with the fishermen yelling for help.
Laura said: “Look, guys. How beautiful! It’s all blue here. It’s not an effect. It’s all blue, it’s starting to get dark.
“What the f*ck is this? Is there someone screaming for help? Is it in the middle of the sea over there?
“There’s someone there asking for help.”
After spotting the victims, Laura and her influencer friend Barbara de Lemos Rodrigues asked for help.
Laura said: “Guys, how crazy is this? Barbara ran down there to let them know. I’m trying to call reception here to see if I can talk to them before Barbara arrives there.”
Moments later, the influencer said the cruise director issued an alert saying that an auxiliary vessel would be heading towards the victims to provide assistance.
The influencer said: “I’m in shock! Barbara managed to warn them. The ship sent out an alert.
“They’re looking. They’re using a flashlight there trying to look.”
The second piece of footage shows the rescue services approaching the stranded boat while the onlookers from the cruise ship cheer and applaud.
The auxiliary vessel then managed to rescue the victims.
Luana said: “You found it! Wow, thank God. Let’s celebrate. I don’t think any day in my life I thought I would see something like that. And I didn’t even want to see it, because it’s scary.”
After the incident, Laura said: “I went to film for my Instagram. I just wanted to film the sky, I posted everything and made a highlight.
“My whole body froze. I was scared because there was nothing nearby.
“I immediately thought: ‘How are there people there?'”
The cruise director later said in a statement: “[The victims] were rescued. Despite the shock, they are physically well.
“They were handed over to the coast guard so that they could receive medical assistance and be able to return to their homes safely as quickly as possible.
“We thank you once again for everyone’s understanding, and now we will continue our journey towards Buzios.”
The vessel was carrying a group of seven fishermen.
One of them, identified as Jose Luiz Tito, 60, was found dead.
According to the Brazilian Civil Defence, the suspicion is that he hit his head, losing consciousness and causing trauma.
The six rescued were identified as Carlos Eduardo Martins da Silva, 40, Claudio Gouveia Toledo, 53, Rafael Viana Toledo, 42, Arlindo Moraes, 51, Jose Tito, 71, and Adilson Gouveia Toledo, 66.
The Brazillian Navy said in a statement: “An internal procedure will be established to investigate the causes, circumstances and responsibilities of the occurrence, as well as to gather lessons to reduce the likelihood of similar situations in the future and verify whether bad weather contributed to the incident.”
