The Carnival Elation cruise ship docked in Nassau, Bahamas. DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images
- The US Coast Guard has called off its search for a 30-year-old man who fell overboard on a Carnival cruise ship.
- A Carnival spokesperson told Insiders that security footage showed the man jumping off the ship.
- This is Carnival’s sixth reported man-overboard incident since 2022, according to Ross A. Klein.
The US Coast Guard has called off its search for a 30-year-old male passenger who fell overboard from the Carnival Elation cruise ship on Sunday.
The cruise ship was on a four-day trip to the Bahamas at the time of the incident and en route to Jacksonville, Fla., said Matt Lupoli, a spokesman for Carnival. The man was reported missing by his traveling companion late Sunday afternoon after not being seen for the whole day.
“Unfortunately, after an extensive search on board and a review of security camera footage, it was discovered that he had jumped,” Lupoli said. “Coastal authorities have been notified and the crew have been advised to proceed to Jacksonville. The Carnival Care Team is supporting the guest’s family and our thoughts are with them and the guest.”
The U.S. Coast Guard was alerted at 6:30 p.m. Sunday and began searching shortly after, Petty Officer 3rd Class Eric Rodriguez told Insider. The Coast Guard announced on Tuesday that it had stopped searching for the man.
In a statement to Insider on Tuesday, a Carnival spokesperson said, “Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences remain with our guest’s loved ones as the extensive search for him by the United States Coast Guard has ended. Our care team continues to support the guest’s family.”
Six passengers have fallen overboard on Carnival Cruise Line ships since early 2022, according to news reports compiled by Ross A. Klein, professor and associate dean of graduate programs and research at Memorial University of Newfoundland, on his blog CruiseJunkie.com.
The FBI opened an investigation into a man-overboard incident aboard a Carnival cruise ship in May when Ronnie Lee Peale Jr., a 35-year-old passenger, fell into the water after leaning over the railing of his cabin balcony.
Statistically, the odds of falling off a cruise ship are slim. A total of 212 cruise ship overboard accidents were reported between 2009 and 2019, according to a report commissioned by industry and trade group Cruise Lines International Association. Of these, 48 people – around 28% – were successfully rescued.
Under the Cruise Ship Safety Act 2010, cruise ships are required to have 42-inch guardrails and man-overboard imaging or detection systems. However, not all cruise ships have recently developed automatic man-overboard detection technology, which uses thermal imaging cameras and radar to immediately alert crew members when a person falls overboard.
Carnival did not respond to questions about what man-overboard detection technologies are on board the Carnival Elation ship.
The time between falling overboard and the cruise ship embarking on a search-and-rescue mission can be a matter of life and death, according to the experience of James Michael Grimes, a Carnival passenger who was stranded at sea for 20 hours after falling overboard last year.
Do you have a tip or story about man-overboard accidents on cruise ships? Email this reporter at [email protected]
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