27 April 2023 , 08:39
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A passenger has detailed the moment a cruise ship passenger went overboard while travelling from Brisbane to Hawaii, as the search has been called off.
The Australian man aboard Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas went over around 11pm Tuesday night, local time, two days before it was due to arrive in Honolulu.
The ship left Brisbane on 12 April and was about 500 miles south of Hawaii at the time of the incident.
Ivan Rukavina, from Melbourne, said he heard “Oscar Oscar Oscar” over the ships’ loudspeaker — a code meaning man overboard.
He claims the man fell from the 15th-floor balcony, about 20m above his room and directly above the main pool area.
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Rukavina said the crew were “frantically” trying to get the lights on the lifeboats to work: "I heard someone say ‘there are no lights’."
It happened shortly after a woman died during a medical emergency on the vessel - though the two incidents are not linked and the pair did not know each other.
The ship's search and rescue operation lasted two hours (Facebook)
The rescue operation out at sea (ABC NEWS)The New York Post reports that the man whose family was aboard the ship said they told him that the missing passenger’s partner had died just moments before he went overboard.
The ship's search and rescue operation lasted two hours before the US Coast Guard launched a Hercules aircraft which reached the search area at 9am.
The plane completed five search patterns but was unable to find the man and with only six hours of fuel, the plane ended its search at 3pm local time.
The Australian man aboard Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas went over around 11pm Tuesday night (Facebook)No other aircraft were available to continue the search, including the US Navy, who were contacted, so the search had to halt for the day before starting the next day.
Ken, another passenger on board the ship, told 7NEWS: "A lady heard a scream, went out onto the balcony and saw him drop past, hit the tender below and fall into the water.
“The captain... hung around as long as (he) could before being told by the US Coast Guard to resume course.”
A Royal Caribbean cruise ship (stock image) (Royal Caribbean Cruises)The ship is 16 storeys high and has room for 4,500 passengers and a 1,500-strong crew, according to the cruise company’s website.
In a speech addressing passengers on Thursday morning, the captain said his “deepest sympathies and thoughts” were with the man’s family.
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“We’ll do our best to provide assistance and support to the family (and) out of respect we will not provide any other details,” the captain said.