Cruise passengers 'sick to stomach as man who falls overboard on Christmas Eve

26 December 2023 , 08:53

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Fellow passengers rushed to the side of the vessel to help search for the passenger (Image: Colin Schappi)

Fellow cruise passengers on board a Royal Caribbean ship have been left "sick to the stomach" as the search for a man who went overboard on Christmas Eve continues.

According to officials, a 41-year-old man is missing after he went overboard on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship to the Bahamas over the weekend. The Coast Guard were called just after 7.15pm on Sunday after the man went over around 127 miles east of Charleston, South Carolina, according to Petty Officer Vincent Moreno.

"A guest went overboard from Vision of the Seas," a company representative said. "The ship and crew immediately reported the incident to local authorities and launched a search and rescue mission... Out of privacy for the guest and their family, we have no additional details to share."

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A bright strobe light was used to scour the waters for six hours after the man was said to have fallen overboard (Colin Schappi)

The ship stopped in place for six hours to search for the man (Colin Schappi)

A huge team of law enforcement personnel was mobilised to search for the missing passenger, however, on Monday morning, Christmas Day, the Coast Guard said it had called off the rescue mission after eight hours of searching more than 1,625 square miles. The Coast Guard deployed two C-130 Hercules planes in an attempt to find the missing man, one from North Carolina, and another from Clearwater, Florida.

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As soon as the man was reported to have fallen overboard, the huge cruise ship stopped in place. Crew used a strobe lamp in a desperate attempt to scour the waters for the missing man for around six hours.

Passengers on board the cruise, named the '8 Night Bahamas & Perfect Day Holiday Cruise' said it departed from Baltimore on Friday. 21-year-old film student Jake Utzinger, from New Jersey, was on board with his girlfriend's family when the man went missing.

He recalled lying in bed around 7.45pm when an announcement came over the speakers from the captain to say a man had gone overboard. He said: "I instantly felt sick to my stomach knowing that one of our fellow travellers had been lost at sea."

Colin Schappi knew something was seriously wrong when he heard the emergency announcement (WCBD-TV)

Jake said fellow passengers raced to the side of the ship to lend an "extra pair of eyes" to those searching. Another passenger, Colin Schappi, said he realised there was something serious going on when he heard the announcement: "Oscar! Oscar! Oscar! Starboard!" at around 7.15pm.

"We were wondering what was going on with that," he told local outlet WCBD. He continued: "We also noticed that all the staff kind of made a face at each other.

"They reacted to that news, but overall no one knew what was going on at first. Then they did another announcement explaining what happened a few minutes later."

After stopping the ship and scanning the water with a strobe light for around six hours, the trip resumed at around 2am. Jake said: "It's definitely going to be rough continuing this voyage knowing that a family is missing their loved one."

The Vision of the Seas' next stop is Port Canaveral, Florida. After that, it will sail throughout the Bahamas before returning to Baltimore on Saturday. The 915-foot-long ship, which has a total capacity of 2,000 guests and 700 crew members, made its first voyage in 1988, according to the Royal Caribbean website.

Fiona Leishman