A 41-year-old man is missing after he went overboard over the weekend on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship to the Bahamas, officials said.
The Coast Guard received a call at 7:17 p.m. about the passenger, who had fallen from the ship about 127 miles east of Charleston, South Carolina, Petty Officer Vincent Moreno told The Post and Courier.
“A guest went overboard from Vision of the Seas. The ship and crew immediately reported the incident to local authorities and launched a search and rescue mission,” a company representative told The Post in an email.
“Out of privacy for guests and their families, we have no additional details to share,” the statement added on Monday.
The Coast Guard deployed a C-130 Hercules aircraft from Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and another C-130 crew responded from Clearwater, Florida, to relieve the first.
A 41-year-old passenger has gone overboard on Royal Caribbean’s Vision of the Seas cruise ship on its voyage from Baltimore to the Bahamas. Courtesy of Coli Schappi Passengers watch rescue efforts after a 41-year-old man went overboard. Courtesy Coli Schappi
But on Monday morning, the agency announced it had suspended the search after scouring more than 1,625 square miles for eight hours, WCBD reported.
The missing man was aboard Royal Caribbean’s “8 Night Bahamas & Perfect Day Holiday Cruise,” which departed from Baltimore on Friday, passengers told the Post and Courier.
Jake Utzinger, a 21-year-old film student from New Jersey who was on vacation with his girlfriend’s family, said he was lying in bed around 7:45 p.m. when the captain announced that a passenger had fallen overboard.
“I immediately felt sick when I learned that one of our fellow travelers was lost at sea,” Utzinger told the newspaper.
He said he, his girlfriend and other passengers rushed to the pool deck to provide “an extra pair of eyes” in the search and rescue effort.
Sea View. SOPA/LightRocket image via Getty Images
Another passenger, Colin Schappi, told WCBD that he heard the announcement “Oscar! Oscar! Oscar! Starboard! — a call to the crew indicating an emergency at sea — at about 7:15 p.m
“We wonder what happened to that,” he said.
Passenger Colin Schappi said he heard an emergency call alerting the crew. WCBD-TV
The crew stopped the ship, dropped the strobe lights and searched for passengers for six hours before resuming the journey around 2am
“It’s certainly difficult to continue this voyage knowing that a family is missing their loved ones,” Utzinger told the news outlet.
Vision of the Seas’ next stop is Port Canaveral, Florida, after which it will sail across the Bahamas before returning to Baltimore on Saturday.
The Coast Guard said it had suspended its search. Courtesy Coli Schappi
The 915-foot ship, which has a total capacity of 2,000 guests and 700 crew, made its maiden voyage in 1988, according to Royal Caribbean’s website.
In August, a Royal Caribbean passenger ran over the Wonder of the Seas, the world’s largest cruise ship, while it was off the coast of Cuba on a cruise from Florida.
The passenger was identified as 19-year-old Sigmund Ropich, a college student from Washington state known to his loved ones as “boiboi.” He was on vacation with friends at the time.
Earlier that month, an Indian woman died after she apparently jumped from the company’s Spectrum of the Seas.
The Vision of the Seas is on the “8 Night Bahamas & Perfect Day Holiday Cruise.” Universal Image Group via Getty Images
Reeta Sahani, 64, was reported missing after her husband, Jakesh Sahani, 70, woke up in the middle of the night and realized she was not in their cabin.
In June, a 42-year-old woman was rescued after she fell from Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas about 25 miles south of Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic during its cruise from Florida.
Other recent incidents have occurred on cruise ships Carnival Magic, Carnival Elation and Emerald Princess.
On average, 19 people board a cruise ship each year — and of those, only about four are rescued, according to a 2020 study commissioned by industry trade group Cruise Lines International Association.
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
