Disney Cruise Ship Passenger Reflects on Dramatic Rescue of a Father and Daughter

NEED TO KNOW

Shock quickly gave way to relief over the weekend as Disney cruise ship passengers stood by while crew members rushed to rescue a father and daughter after the girl fell overboard and the man jumped in to save her.

The incident occurred on Sunday, June 29, as the Disney Dream was traveling back to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., following a multi-day cruise in the Bahamas, PEOPLE previously reported.

Houston-based mother Shannon Lindholm was a passenger on the Disney Dream and watched the rescue efforts play out in real-time, although she did not witness the initial fall nor the man’s jump into the ocean.

She was traveling with her husband and their two children when she and her daughter heard an unfamiliar message over the PA system announcing a Mr. MOB port-side. Around that time, they were near a fourth-floor deck, the same level the girl fell from, according to others in an unofficial Disney Dream Cruise Ship Facebook group.

“Staff members were moving fast, so we knew it was serious, and we’d never heard it before. So my daughter, pretty tech savvy, she just picked up an iPad and Googled it and said, ‘Oh my God, Mom. That means man overboard,’ ” Lindholm tells PEOPLE.

“And then, about that time, is when we looked out the window and saw them boarding the speedboat. So it all happened so fast,” she adds.

In the moments ahead of the swift rescue, she says crew members blocked off the deck area.

“People were commenting that the ship had kind of turned around and gone back in a different direction. By that point though, the ship was completely stopped. It wasn’t moving at all,” she says.

Lindholm says a few crew members boarded a small rescue boat that launched from the fourth deck. Within about five minutes, she saw it returning with the father and daughter aboard.

“It was incredible. The dad was giving a huge thumbs up, signing to everybody that was watching from the upper decks,” Lindholm says. “We could see the little girl was in one of the crew members’ arms, and they hoisted the speedboat back to right where it came from, from the fourth deck, and they both walked off, and they swiftly took them away.”

Passengers cheered and applauded, Lindholm recalls, as the duo came aboard the ship.

“People were crying and praying and gathering with their family, you could see different groups hugging each other,” Lindholm says. “And then the relief everyone felt when they got on board was really incredible.”

She noted that a woman who appeared to be the child’s mother was also present on the deck.

“They brought her over, and obviously she was extremely relieved and incredibly grateful, and it was just very quick from there,” she adds, calling the rescue “a miracle times two.”

“I saw the mom’s face of terror when she was waiting for them to be rescued, and I saw her face of relief when they brought them on board,” Lindholm says. “My thoughts and prayers are just with her, that she gets what she needs to move forward too, because I can’t imagine what those 10 minutes were like for her.”

About five minutes later, Lindholm says the ship started moving again and things appeared to be back to normal, adding the captain explained over the PA system that two people had fallen overboard, but both were safe and back on the ship.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“The Crew aboard the Disney Dream swiftly rescued two guests from the water,” Disney Cruise Line told PEOPLE in a statement. “We commend our crew members for their exceptional skills and prompt actions, which ensured the safe return of both guests to the ship within minutes.”

This was the Lindholm family’s sixth cruise overall and their fourth with Disney. She observed that the railing typically reaches her 11-year-old daughter’s chest level. She also noted that the fourth-floor deck, where the incident reportedly occurred, included plexiglass between the railing.

“It’s not something you could just stumble and fall over,” she says, adding, “I’ve always felt extremely safe with my children walking around.” Disney has not yet released specific details about how the child fell into the water.

Lindholm says the whole ordeal lasted no more than 15 minutes.

“Before most people could even realize what was happening, the situation was over. It was so fast,” Lindholm says. “We were just right there, literally at the window where it was happening, so we were able to watch it almost from start to finish.”

Read the original article on People