@kellyswitz/TikTok
A woman filmed what happened when her ferry started sinking on the way to Blue Lagoon Island in the Bahamas, sharing the footage to TikTok.
Kelly Schissel was en route to the private island in a two-tier ferry as part of the Caribbean cruise when the disaster happened.
Her TikTok showed passengers in life vests, clearly alarmed, as the ferry was slanted and water was pouring into the bottom deck.
"Our boat is sinking," Schissel said, panning the camera around the top deck, showing passengers clinging onto the rails. "Everybody's freaking out."
Several passengers had also leaped from the ferry and were swimming toward a nearby boat. Schissel caught footage of more people jumping, as the crowd continued to scream on board.
The final few seconds of the TikTok showed a photo of the capsizing, sinking ferry from a distance. It amassed over 25 million views.
@kellyswitz our ferry went down on our way to Blue Lagoon #shipwreck #boat #boatsinking #bluelagoon #bahamas #ferry
♬ original sound - Kelly Schissel
Schissel was aboard the ferry of over 100 passengers, which sank on Tuesday morning. One tourist, a 74-year-old woman, died, the Associated Press reported, and two more were sent to a medical center. Everyone else was rescued, according to AP, and an investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Schissel shared further videos describing her experience. She said the boat started sinking when they turned and were about to enter the Blue Lagoon area. She said she thought the captain was trying to show off with a fancy move, but it didn't pay off.
The island is a popular spot for tourists to swim with dolphins and stingrays and is famous for its clear blue water.
But Schissel never made it there. She said she started to think the trip was "a little bumpy" but thought nothing of it. Then the ferry lurched forward and water started splashing up, she said.
"Then all of a sudden, you kind of hear people kind of freaking out a little bit," she said. "And at first, us on the top deck at least, we were just like, what's going on?"
Schissel said she looked over the edge and saw water pouring into the ferry on the deck below her.
"We were starting to lean forward just because we were starting to sink," she said. "And then one of the crew members that was downstairs ran upstairs and was crying, freaking out, absolutely bawling, grabbing a life jacket, and then that's when everybody's like, oh shit, this is real. Something's happening."
Passengers then started grabbing life jackets, she said, and waited for instructions that never came.
"We were kind of waiting for the staff to tell us what to do," she said. "Which they never did because they were too busy crying and freaking out."
@kellyswitz sinking boat on Blue Lagoon update #ferry #bahamas #bluelagoon #boatsinking #boat #shipwreck #update
♬ original sound - Kelly Schissel
Tourists on board were also "screaming" and "freaking out," Schissel said, and then one man jumped into the water. People followed suit, she said.
"Everybody else was like, shit, we might as well do the same thing," she said. "So we all jumped in, and it was actually pretty rough waves. So a lot of people, they were just trying to stay above water, even with their life vests on."
Schissel said it was warm, and the weather was fine, but the waves were strong, so it wasn't easy to swim towards to rescue boats.
"I got on a fisherman's boat that had nothing to do with it," she said. "He was just driving by, saw it out of the corner of his eye, and came back around."
During the rescue, the staff were still panicking, Schissel said, so she tried to help organize the passengers. The woman who died, she said, "did make it to land" but must have been affected by the incident afterward.
For an hour or two, they were all stuck in a small area on the island's pier, Schissel said and waited for the official rescue boats to pick them up and take them back to the cruise ship.
"We haven't heard anything yet as of now," she said. "That's all I got for an update."
In a second update, Schissel said many people had been asking how she had remained so calm during all the chaos.
"I've been traumatized so many times in my life it's not even trauma anymore," she said. "It was just Tuesday."
