A 37-year-old pianist who fell from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship spent around nine hours adrift in the Pacific Ocean before two fishermen pulled him from the water, according to De Telegraaf.
The man was found roughly 32 kilometres off the coastline, HLN reports. Speaking after his rescue, he said he had believed he would not survive the ordeal, De Telegraaf reported.
Dutch outlets NOS and NU both reported that the pianist was rescued after nine hours in the water. According to Nieuwsblad, he stayed afloat partly thanks to El Niño conditions.
Few further details have been made public, including how the man came to leave the ship or the exact location of the rescue. The accounts published so far do not identify him by name or specify which vessel he was working on.
The case has drawn wide attention in the Netherlands, with several national outlets covering the rescue. Falling overboard from a cruise ship is rare, and surviving extended periods in open ocean water is rarer still.
Questions remain over how the incident unfolded and what safety procedures were followed on board. Further reporting is expected as investigators and the cruise line respond.
