Costa Favolosa cruise ship crew member dies in Miami after getting COVID-19 on board
A crew member from the Costa Favolosa cruise ship died at Larkin Community Palm Springs Hospital in Hialeah on Saturday after contracting COVID-19, the cruise company confirmed.
Mumbai newspaper Mid-Day confirmed the crew member is Andrew Fernandes, 48, a father of four from India. People who worked with Fernandes on Costa Cruises ships tell the Herald he was gentle and especially helpful to new colleagues getting used to living at sea.
Fernandes was evacuated on March 29 from the Carnival Corporation-owned Costa Favolosa and Costa Magica cruise ships, three days after 13 other crew members were transported to Miami hospitals on March 26. Once in the hospital, Fernandes tested positive for COVID-19, the company said in a statement.
“Costa would like to express its deepest grief and condolences to the family of the beloved colleague,” the company said in a statement. “Sincere thanks go to the doctors and nurses of the Larkin Community Palm Springs Hospital for doing everything possible to save our colleague’s life.”
Colleagues say Fernandes worked as a security guard. Andrea Leonel, a colleague who worked with Fernandes on the Costa Pacifica ship last year, said he was very friendly with passengers and crew.
“Everybody likes him and suffering for his loss,” she said via Facebook messenger. “Always helping, teaching and understanding us....It’s difficult to accept this situation.”
Fellow crew members shared photos of Fernandes in his cruise ship uniform over the weekend with messages of grief.
Fernandes’ sister told Mid-Day that he had worked for Costa Cruises for 17 years. The family said they still do not understand how Fernandes died.
The 13 crew members evacuated from the ships on March 26 were sent to hospitals in the Jackson Health System, the University of Miami Health System and Baptist Health. Fernandes was the only person evacuated later, on March 29, the company said.
In mid-March, all passengers and a few crew disembarked from the Costa Favolosa and Costa Magica ships in the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe after the cruise industry halted operations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Costa said eight people on the ships tested positive for COVID-19, including four crew members.
The Ministry of Health for Trinidad and Tobago said Monday 49 passengers from the Costa Favolosa cruise ship tested positive after returning home from Guadeloupe.
No countries would allow the ships to disembark sick crew, the company said. The ships originally planned to evacuate crew to Cuba on March 25, but sailed instead to Miami on March 26.
Carnival Corp. arranged charter flights to Manila, Philippines, for hundreds of crew from the two ships out of Miami International Airport on March 30. The company said 674 crew members still remain on Costa Favolosa and 618 on Costa Magica. The ships are anchored off of Freeport, Bahamas, getting supplies before crossing the Atlantic to go to Europe, the company said.
In a Saturday press release, the Coast Guard said there are 114 cruise ships carrying 93,000 crew members in or near U.S. ports and waters. In U.S. ports and anchorages alone, 73 cruise ships are still carrying 52,000 crew members. Another 41 cruise ships, with 41,000 crew members, are near the United States.
“The cruise industry has an ongoing obligation for the care, safety and welfare of their seafarers,” the Coast Guard said in the release.
This story was originally published April 6, 2020 at 2:57 PM.
