Marine engineer Tomislav Zubovic has become the first volunteer from the Costa cruiseship group to serve onboard the hospital vessel Africa Mercy.

It follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding in March between Costa and Mercy Ships.

Zubovic and future volunteers “will not only lend a helping hand but will also share their knowledge with the other volunteers onboard,” said Michael Thamm, group chief executive of Costa Group and Carnival Asia.