Papenburg, GERMANY: Residents watch as the cruise ship Norwegian Pearl sails through a narrow portion of the river Elms, before entering the North Sea late 04 November 2006. German authorities are still investigating whether the power surge caused when high voltage cables close to the river were turned back on after the ship had completed its passage, was partly responsible for the power cut experienced in most of western Europe late 04 November. AFP PHOTO DDP/NIGEL TREBLIN GERMANY OUT (Photo credit should read NIGEL TREBLIN/AFP/Getty Images) "Art work was taped down and passengers were lying in the main lobby. Likely nervous to be in their cabins as waves were higher than the windows on the lower decks." A polar bear was shot and killed after attacking a cruise ship guard, according to the German cruise company Hapag-Lloyd Cruises. (CNN) — A British woman was saved by the Croatian Coast Guard after spending what she said was close to 10 hours treading water overnight in the Adriatic Sea after falling off a cruise ship. Kay Longstaff spoke to Croatian news outlet HRT shortly after arriving back on land. “I fell off the back of the Norwegian Star,” said the woman, who lives in Spain, according to her Twitter account. “I was in the water for 10 hours, so these wonderful guys rescued me. I’m very lucky to be alive.” Longstaff, 46, was then led by medical personnel to an ambulance. Lovro Orešković, the captain of the ship that rescued her, told local media that it was a “miracle” that she survived. “On the cruise liner they thought she didn’t survive,” Orešković said. “She is clearly fit. She told us she does yoga, and that as she floated in the sea she sang the whole time so that her body temperature wouldn’t fall, and to stay awake.” “We have saved a human life and nothing else compares to it,” he said in a later statement. Croatian Coast Guard The Croatian Coast Guard rescues a British woman from the Adriatic. According to a statement from the Croatian Coast Guard, the search for Longstaff began at 2:17 a.m. local time Sunday after they were alerted by the ship’s captain that there was a person overboard. Other ships in the area were notified about the emergency, and passenger ships Zadar and Celebrity Constellation took part in the search. The Norwegian Star ship also took part in the search, the statement said. A patrol boat and an airplane also were part of the rescue effort, according to the Croatian Ministry of Defense. The Coast Guard later learned that Longstaff fell from the ship at 11:45 p.m. local time Saturday, according to CCTV footage reviewed by the crew of the Norwegian Star, the statement said. Longstaff was spotted in the sea – around 0.8 miles from the site of the incident – at about 9:40 a.m. Sunday by the crew of a Coast Guard patrol boat and brought on board, according to the Coast Guard. Croatian Coast Guard/Croatian Coast Guard Kay Longstaff sits with members of the Croatian Coast Guard. A Norwegian Cruise Lines spokesperson confirmed that a guest went overboard “as Norwegian Star made her way to Venice.” “The Coast Guard was notified and a search-and-rescue operation ensued. We are pleased to advise that the guest was found alive, is currently in stable condition, and has been taken ashore in Croatia for further treatment. We are very happy that the individual is now safe and will soon be reunited with friends and family.” It was unclear how Longstaff fell overboard. Renee Friedman of New York, traveling on the cruise ship with her husband, told CNN that she first heard of the incident at 6 a.m. on Sunday when the captain announced that there was a person overboard. The passengers were told that a search was underway for the missing woman and that their arrival in Venice would be delayed. “The main thing is that tragedy was averted and that she was found alive,” Friedman said. CNN’s Sydney Berger, Milena Veselinovic and Judith Vonberg contributed to this report.<doc-sep>But many questions remain about Longstaff’s ordeal, including how she got into the water and how she was able to survive for almost half a day. She declined to tell reporters how she fell off the cruise ship or what happened in the moments just before.<doc-sep>
PULA, Croatia -- A British woman was rescued Sunday after falling from a cruise ship and spending 10 hours in the Adriatic Sea at night, Croatia's coast guard said. The unidentified woman was taken to a hospital in the town of Pula and is out of danger. She fell from the Norwegian Star cruise ship, about 95 kilometers off Croatia's coast shortly before midnight Saturday. A Croatian rescue ship was scrambled and found her swimming Sunday morning not far from where she was believed to have fallen. "I fell off the back of the Norwegian Star and I was in the water for 10 hours, so these wonderful guys rescued me," she told Croatia's state HRT television as the rescue ship arrived at a dock, without explaining how she fell overboard. She told reporters she was "very lucky to be alive," BBC News reports. In this photo taken Aug. 19, 2018, a woman who identified herself as Kay from England, is interviewed by local media in front of a Croatian Coast Guard vessel in the port in Pula, Croatia. AP Photo She identified herself as Kay from England, age 46. The ship's captain, Lovro Oreskovic, said that she was exhausted. "We were extremely happy for saving a human life," he said. The circumstances of the incident were being investigated and the British Embassy in Croatia was informed. A statement from the Norwegian Cruise Line said a guest fell overboard while the ship was on its way to Venice, Italy. "We are pleased to advise that the guest was found alive and is currently in stable condition," the statement said. Last month, a cruise ship worker was rescued off the coast of Cuba after going overboard and apparently treading water for some 22 hours.