A cruise ship was forced to evacuate its sick passengers on Tuesday as Hurricane Milton approached the Florida coast.
According to news reports, the Sun Princess, which had departed Southampton, England, on September 23, 2024, was scheduled to dock in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday morning.
However, due to approaching Hurricane Milton, the ship’s arrival was moved up a day.
Port Everglades is currently under Condition Yankee. This means that sustained tropical storm force winds are expected to arrive within 24 hours. As a result, inbound vessels greater than 500 GT (gross tons) are not permitted to enter the port.
With Port Everglades closed in anticipation of the storm, the Sun Princess was anchored approximately five miles offshore.
As a precaution, the ship’s crew began airlifting sick passengers to safety. The exact destination of the evacuated passengers remains unclear.
The evacuation comes as Hurricane Milton, a Category 4 storm, is expected to make landfall in Florida later this week. The storm has prompted widespread preparations and evacuations along the state’s coastline.