Woman tries to swim to cruise liner, thinking husband's on board

A 65-year-old British woman was rescued by Portuguese fishermen after she tried to swim out to her passing cruise liner in pursuit of her husband.

After spending four hours in the water, Susan Brown told hospital officials she jumped into the sea, thinking her husband had backed out of their plans to fly back to the UK, ending their cruise early.

Felix Marques, harbour captain and the local maritime police commander at Funchal port in the Madeira Islands, said Mrs Brown and her husband bought tickets to fly home early, during a stop-over in Madeira.

The cruise was sailing to Lisbon before Bristol, where the couple were returning to that night by plane.

Mr Marques said he did not know why they chose to leave early but, after getting lost and distressed, Mrs Brown threw herself into the sea, mistakenly believing her husband was on the ship.

According to Mr Marques, police have confirmed her husband, Michael Brown, 69, was in fact not on-board and returned to England.

Mr Marques said they are still trying to get in touch with Mr Brown.

He added: "We are trying to get in contact with Mr Brown to find out, from his side, what happened. We have confirmed he is in England.

"The situation is not well-known, we only know Susan Brown's version. She had decided with her husband to stop the cruise in Madeira and they went to the airport to buy a ticket to fly home to Bristol.

"We confirmed that Mr Brown had booked tickets to go back to Bristol on Saturday night. Susan Brown must have got a little lost and, when she was close to the airport, she saw the cruise at a large distance and threw herself into the sea, trying to reach the ship.

"She had a little bag with her documents in. I think it was impulsive, to try to swim to the boat ... she was upset and desperate. It didn't end badly but she could have died in the water because when she was rescued she had hypothermia…It was very serious.

"She spent four hours in the water and was found at 12.20am by some fishermen who were working near her and heard her scream 'help me, help me'.

"They found her, retrieved her from the water ... and she was taken to hospital in Funchal.

"They noted that she seemed very perturbed, very disorientated ... and she told (the hospital of) how she meant to swim to her husband on the boat.

"It's a complicated story and we need to wait for Mrs Brown to recuperate to find out the full story."

Mrs Brown was taken to hospital on Monday with advanced hypothermia and is currently in a psychiatric ward. Local reports said the couple had rowed but the ports captain could not confirm there had been an argument.