What to Know
- Authorities confirmed that 78-year-old Fanya Shamis from Coconut Creek was killed in the crash along with her daughter and grandson.
- A second ship carrying passengers involved, Royal Caribbean’s Celebrity Equinox, is scheduled to return to Port Miami on Saturday.
One of the two cruise ships that carried passengers who were on a deadly bus crash in Mexico this week returned to South Florida on Friday.
Royal Caribbean ‘s Serenade of the Seas arrived at Port Everglades just before 6 a.m., with passengers departing the ship hours later. The ship carried at least one Floridian who were among the dozen people killed when a bus that was returning from taking tourists to the Mayan ruins flipped over Tuesday.
Authorities confirmed that 78-year-old Fanya Shamis from Coconut Creek was killed in the crash along with her daughter and grandson, Anna and Daniel Behar of Virginia. Behar’s husband and other son were injured in the crash.
Two others from Florida, Christopher and Laura Couallier from near Orlando, were also confirmed to be among the dead. Christopher Couallier was the CFO for the Port Miami tunnel project, according to friends and family.
"We saw all of the bodies laying down with blood all over them. It was not like United States where you have ambulances everywhere," said John Whitten from Jacksonville, who was moved to a different bus for the trip after the first one filled up. "I feel sorry for the people because there were no helicopters - there was no nothing but they might have stayed out there for two hours with blood all over them."
Other passengers said they were also concerned about the lack of seat belt use.
Local
"I was just mentioning to my mom when we were on the bus 'we should put our seatbelt' because nobody is mentioning it to us," said Sandra Novoa. "Because if we have an accident, we're the first people that will fly out of these buses."
The driver of that tour bus has been in custody as a manslaughter investigation determined negligence and excessive speed caused the crash.
A second ship carrying passengers involved, Royal Caribbean’s Celebrity Equinox, is scheduled to return to Port Miami on Saturday.
