boattragedy

There was a time when Hannah Smith did not want the world to see her.

After losing both legs in a devastating boating accident during a trip to the Bahamas, the 23-year-old college graduate faced a reality she never imagined.

“The whole world could now see me, my scars and a nub,” she recalled in a social media post.

For a young woman who had been celebrating one of the happiest moments of her life, the journey that followed would test every part of her spirit.

Smith had traveled with her childhood friend to celebrate graduating from Miles College when tragedy struck. According to a lawsuit filed against Carnival and an excursion operator–Pearl Island Investment Management Group, she was pulled beneath the back of a catamaran ferry and repeatedly struck by its propeller.

The injuries were catastrophic and she lost 60 percent of her blood and both of her legs.

In an instant, the future she had imagined for herself was gone, it seemed.

The months that followed were filled with pain, uncertainty and some of the darkest moments of her life.

“I had a lot of dark moments alone,” she said.

Though surrounded by family and friends who loved her, Smith admitted she often felt disconnected from the world around her.

“I still felt like I didn’t fit anymore.”

But even in those moments, she refused to surrender. “I was determined to be the best version of myself during recovery,” she said.

That determination became her lifeline. She prayed, even when she struggled with anger.

“I prayed despite my anger towards God.” And slowly, she began rebuilding her life.

Today, Smith has embraced new passions, including wheelchair basketball and painting. She has also begun her journey with prosthetic legs, a process she once believed would restore what she had lost.

Instead, she discovered something deeper.

“God has given me so much grace and is continuously renewing my strength whenever I feel depleted in my new journey of life,” she said.

“If God allows something to be taken away you never thought you could lose, He can also give you blessings you never thought you could have.”

One year after the accident, Smith says she never imagined she would come this far.

She continues to adapt, heal and inspire thousands through social media who follow her journey.

Perhaps no words capture her journey better than the message she chose to have inscribed on her thigh: “Walk by faith and not my foot.”

It is a testimony that while tragedy may have changed the course of her life, it did not defeat her spirit.

Before 50-year-old Princess Mills drowned, the preacher and teacher often traversed the northern islands to spread the gospel message, after teaching students in Family and Consumer Studies at SC Bootle High School.

When friends and family found out that she died tragically after a boat in which she was a passenger overturned early Thursday morning, they were in disbelief.

“I tried not to believe this as I fought internally with so many emotions…This is a tough pill to swallow,” cousin Elon Elcaro said.

“My beautiful, anointed, powerful, rare, phenomenal, supernatural, believing cousin,” he lamented.

Mills was in Freeport for a church service where she danced and preached, after which, she called a ferry boat to carry her back to Abaco where she planned to spend the Easter holidays with her husband and son in Moore’s Island.

But before she could arrive, the 20ft Grady boat capsized. Mill’s lifeless body was found floating near the vessel as the 19-year-old boat captain who always ferried her to the various islands, was found clinging to the vessel after 2 am.

Her father Jonathan Stuart reminisced, “Everybody really loved her.”

Stuart helped her load the boat with her belongings before her departure from McClean’s Town, after which she kissed him and said, “Daddy I’ll see you when you get home.”

Friend Terrece Isabella who also taught at SC Bootle High School said it was typical of Mills to take boat rides at night to partake in various church services in Marsh Harbour, Eleuthera and Freeport.

“There were no seasons in my life in the last 20-plus years, that she didn’t show up, and show up she did.

“Princess [Mills] was gentle, radical in faith, sacrificial and motherly. I witnessed Princess giving people the last that she had. Oftentimes, people were quick to take advantage of her generosity and loving nature, without regard for her sacrifices.

Isabella said Mills was the epitome of selflessness. “She fed and provided for those she believed needed her.

“She never put herself first. It was just Princess—a giver.”

Former student, Devon Cooper said, “This cut me deep. From high school, I always knew her to be an example of a true woman of God.”

While another student Krizstina Rutherford described her as “the best Home Economic teacher anyone could possibly ask for.”

Only the strong survived the boat tragedy on Sunday when 17 Haitians including a child died when a human smuggling vessel capsized in Bahamian waters on their way to Florida.

The dead included 15 women, one man, and a child. The other 25 passengers were rescued from the 30-foot speedboat which overturned in choppy waters in Nassau.

It was reported that 60 people may have been on board the boat and authorities may be searching for up to eighteen missing people, unaccounted for.

In a picture issued by the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, only men were seen sitting atop the capsized vessel, awaiting rescue by divers.

A woman was pulled from the hull of the boat and was reported to have survived due to an air pocket.

Commissioner of Police Clayton Fernander said divers heard a knocking from the hull of the boat and found one woman.

“I think that’s what kept her alive.”

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry said he sympathized with the parents of the victims.

“This new drama saddens the whole nation,” he said. “While sympathizing with the parents of the victims, I launch, once again, an appeal for national reconciliation in order to solve the problems that are driving away, far from our soil, our brothers, our sisters, our children.”

The passengers who survived the ordeal said they paid smugglers $3000 to $8000 to catch the boat ride to Florida. Authorities have since arrested two Bahamian traffickers who are known for other criminal acts.