A passenger aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship travelling from Australia to Hawaii is missing after falling overboard, Royal Caribbean International confirmed to The Independent.
The passenger, a person from Australia, went overboard on Tuesday, 25 April, around 11 pm Hawaii-Aleutian standard time while sailing on the Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas.
The ship departed from Brisbane, Australia on 12 April and is expected to arrive in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Friday, 28 April.
But approximately 500 nautical miles south of Kailua Kona, Big Island, the passenger somehow went overboard leading the ship to spend two hours searching for the missing person, according to a press release from the US Coast Guard.
“The ship’s crew immediately launched a search and rescue operation and is working closely with local authorities,” Royal Caribbean International said.
On Facebook, a passenger aboard the ship named Joshua Reynolds, posted a photo of the ship’s crew deploying a lifeboat to begin searching.
“Three medical emergencies and now a man overboard. We have slowed down and are now turning around. Hope they are found,” Mr Reynolds wrote.
According to the US Coast Guard, the crew on Quantum of the Seas contacted the Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Honolulu to assist in the search and rescue.
After two hours of searching, the ship ceased searches and handed it over to the Coast Guard.
Mr Reynolds wrote on Facebook: “It was pitch black. They had tossed half a dozen life vests in the water with the automatic beacons. Nothing. The seas weren’t very pleasant. One of the guys on the 15 ft rescue boat looked like he got sick.”
The Coast Guard said they spent six hours searching for the missing passenger but did not find them. They said their search was to continue at “first light Thursday morning.”
It is unclear how the man fell overboard.