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Deputy saves jet skiers seconds before cruise ship hits them

Posted at 10:58 AM, Mar 13, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-13 10:58:03-04

A Port Canaveral harbor pilot and a sheriff's deputy teamed up to rescue two spring breakers on a jet ski as a Carnival Cruise ship moved toward them.

A cruise ship passenger captured the rescue on video as Brevard County Sheriff's Deputy Taner Primmer pulled the women to safety.

A Canaveral Pilots Association statement says Capt. Doug Brown spotted them while navigating the Carnival Magic out of the port and alerted Primmer. As he approached in a marine patrol boat, one woman fell off the jet ski. It flipped as she tried to get back on, sending both women into the water.

With the ship approaching, Primmer pulled them out and steered his boat away.

Area news outlets identified them as 19-year-old Skylar Penpasuglia and 20-year-old Allison Garrett of Princeton, West Virginia.