Woman Tries to Swim to Cruise Ship
A 65-year-old British woman was rescued by fisherman on Sunday after trying to swim out to a cruise ship off Portugal.
The woman was found about 500 meters from shore. She had left the Marco Polo cruise ship in the port of Funchal with her husband after the couple decided to terminate their cruise. The couple quarrelled, and she later lost sight of her husband at the airport. Thinking he may have returned to the ship, she entered the water near the airport as the ship sailed past.
The woman only had her handbag with her when a local fishing boat responded to her calls for help and plucked her from the water after midnight. She was taken to hospital with hypothermia after being in the 18 degrees Celsius (64 Fahrenheit) water for several hours kept afloat by her handbag.
The woman was transferred to a local psychiatric unit on Monday afternoon.
The woman's husband had not returned to the ship but had taken the first flight home.