British captain of Costa cruise ship 'devastated' by claims crew ignored passengers who alerted them to dying men on stranded fishing boat



Birdwatchers say they reported seeing frantic Adrian Vasquez waving for help but the liner sailed on



The 18-year-old was forced to watch as two companions die from dehydration days after claims they were spotted



Vasquez only survived 28 days adrift thanks to sudden rainstorm which allowed him to catch drinking water

Carnival Corporation – owner of the doomed Costa Concordia – has now launched an investigation

The British captain of the cruise ship that failed to rescue three fishermen has said he is 'devastated' by accusations that he ignored calls for their rescue.

Captain Edward Perrin said he would have immediately made an effort to rescue the stricken men if he had been told.

The tragedy involving the fishing boat became worldwide news when 18-year-old hotel worker Adrian Vasquez, from Panama in Central America, was finally rescued having survived floating in the Pacific for 26 days, on just raw fish and rainwater.

The Star Princess was travelling from Ecuador to Costa Rica when it is said to have passed the three men in their tiny fibreglass boat on March 10.



Three bird watchers – Americans Judy Meredith, 65, and Jeff Gilligan, 61, and Irishman Jim Dowdell, 54 – saw a man on board the Fifty Cents ‘waving a piece of cloth over his head’.

A statement released by Princess Cruises, the operator of the Star Princess, said : 'The preliminary results of our investigation have shown that there appeared to be a breakdown in communication in relaying the passenger's concern.



Sighting: This photo was taken by birdwatcher Jeff Gilligan from aboard the Star Princess and claims to show the stricken fishing boat and red shirt used by the sailors to try to signal for help

'Neither Captain Edward Perrin nor the officer of the watch were notified. Understandably, Captain Perrin is devastated that he is being accused of knowingly turning his back on people in distress.



Probe: Captain Edward Perrin is said to have been at the helm of the ship when it is claimed to have been near the stranded fishing boat

'Had the Captain received this information, he would have had the opportunity to respond. We all understand that it is our responsibility and also the law of the sea to provide assistance to any vessel in distress, and it is not an uncommon occurrence for our ships to be involved in a rescue at sea.



'In fact, we have done so more than 30 times in the last ten years. We deeply regret this incident and are continuing our investigation to fully understand the circumstances.'

The company, which is owned by Carnival, the same corporation behind the operators of the Costa Concordia, the vessel which capsized earlier this year, added they deeply regretted that the two Panamanian men had died.

'Since we became aware of this incident, we have been investigating circumstances surrounding the claim that Star Princess failed to come to the aid of the disabled boat, after a crew member was alerted by passengers,' said the statement.



Passengers said the ship sailed on even though three of them told the crew they had spotted the stricken boat.

Two of the fishermen on board died while a third miraculously survived after what became a 28-day ordeal at sea.



One of the men on the tiny boat died hours after passengers spotted it and it has been claimed his life could have been saved had the Star Princess performed a rescue.

Captain Perrin is one of the most experienced skippers employed by Princess Cruises.



'Ignored sightings': Three passengers on a deck of the Star Princess claim to have reported seeing frantic signals from those aboard the stranded fishing boat, but say the liner continued to sail on

The night after the fishing boat was spotted one of the men onboard, Oropeces Betancourt, 24, died from dehydration. The youngest fishermen, Fernando Osorio, 16, had already died on March 15, suffering from dehydration, sunburn and heatstroke while drifting on the boat the Fifty Cents.



Ms Meredith, from Bend, Oregon, was with Mr Gilligan from Portland, and Mr Dowdall from Ireland, scanning the waves with powerful binoculars, when they saw at least one person waving frantically from the small craft.

The three decided something was wrong and the tiny boat needed help. They informed an officer who promised to relay their concerns to the captain on the bridge, is has been claimed.



Mr Gilligan said: ‘We could see it was not moving – there were nets pulled on to the boat and apparently no nets in the water.

‘So we soon questioned – is this a stranded, disabled boat, signalling us for help?’



‘Finding out later that the Fifty Cents continued at sea for over two more weeks was horrific news. And two of the men died and both could have lived, had the cruise ship responded to our urgent request.

'We all three wanted to believe over the next few hours that since the cruise ship hadn't turned around, they must have had to notify some authorities from some nearby country or agency's search and rescue to come to his aid, ’ Meredith told the Guardian .



They say after alerting the liner’s crew, they tried sending an email to the U.S. Coast Guard, but the message never arrived.

Soon after arriving back in the U.S., Gilligan discovered the news stories about the stranded boat and became convinced it was the same vessel he had spotted.

Photographs taken by the trio of birdwatchers have now been shown to Vasquez who confirmed it was of his boat.



Saved by a rainstorm: Vasquez was found near the Galapagos Islands, after floating more than 600 miles from his home in Panama



Doomed journey: Adrian Vasquez, left, pictured with an unidentified friend in Rio Hato, Panama, went missing on February 24 after the motor on the group's boat failed English Panama-based journalist Don Winner has contacted the boat’s only survivor to corroborate the claims.

He said on Tuesday: ‘He [Vasquez] confirmed that the picture of the boat I received from the birdwatchers was theirs. I asked him if he had a red flag; he said, “I had a red T-shirt and I was waving it over my head like this. My friend Fernando had an orange life vest he was waving over his head”…

'He said that was definitely them. The two stories match up completely, ’ according to the Guardian. Gilligan added that the incident - and the thought that two of the three companions were left to die - still haunts him. A company spokesman said:‘Princess Cruises is dedicated to the highest standards of seamanship wherever our ships sail, and it is our duty to assist any vessel in distress.

'We have come to the aid of many people at sea, and we will continue to do so.'

Vasquez was eventually found drifting alone in the boat near Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, more than 600 miles from where the trio had set out. But the motor of the boat, Fifty Cents, failed at 6pm on February 24, when they were in sight of land and attempting to return. Captain Hugo Espinosa's boat picked up Vasquez early this Sunday from commercial fishermen who had stumbled across the Panamanian drifting in the Pacific on Friday. Disaster: This is the latest damage news story to engulf Carnival Corporation since its liner the Costa Concordia struck rocks off the coast of Italy in January, this year, with the loss of 32 lives





Gradual recovery: The teenager poses with Ecuadorean sailors after coming close to perishing on the ocean and having to push his dead friends overboard

The captain said Vasquez recounted his story as he started to recover from malnutrition and severe dehydration.

For a few days after the friends were cast adrift - as Panama's coastguard began to search for them - they grilled the fish they had caught on the trip.

They also had a large jug of water - but when their ice melted and the fish rotted, they had to toss them overboard and live off what they could catch with their net.

'The spirits of the survivors began to wane with the passing of days,' said the captain.

Vasquez then ran out of water, and he too came close to death as the sun blazed down on the tiny boat.

But his life was saved by a sudden rainstorm on March 19.



'Vasquez was able to fill up with four gallons of water,' said Captain Espinosa.

After weakly picking at raw fish for another five days, the teenager was spotted by fishermen working on a skiff from a mother ship, the Duarte V.



Once aboard, Vasquez asked if he could make two telephone calls.

Incredible strength: Vasquez, bottom left, receives medical attention on a commercial fishing boat after his life was saved by a sudden rainstorm