A crew member went overboard from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, cruisers have posted online.
Photos have been shared of rescue craft in the ocean near the ship, attempting to locate the person.
UPDATE: The person has been identified as a crew member.
Guests sailing on Vision of the Seas shared updates they received, "it’s certainly a sad day. We lost a crew member yesterday. Search went on for about 6-7 hrs, before the Coast Guard could get here and take over," said Gwendolyn Salzman on a Facebook post.
A Royal Caribbean Group spokesperson issued a statement, "We immediately launched a search and rescue effort and are working with authorities. We are also providing support and assistance to our crew’s family during this difficult time. To respect the privacy of our employee, we have no additional details to share."
Original story below.
The incident has occurred near the conclusion of a Southern Caribbean cruise on Vision of the Seas.
Lori Green, who is sailing on Vision of the Seas, posted on Facebook, "Code “OSCAR” (man overboard) just announced on Vision of the Seas. Search and rescue has been deployed."
Reddit user blazinearth also took a photo of the search efforts, "Sending my thoughts and prayers to the family during this difficult time."
The report of the passenger overboard occurred around 1pm on Tuesday evening, as the ship was making its way back to Baltimore, Maryland.
At 7pm, a passenger posted on a Facebook page an update that the search is still ongoing, "Still searching for the person who went overboard. Coast Guard is here now and Captain said at some point the [Coast Guard] will take over the search."
The United States Coast Guard often steps in to help for a man overboard situation. They can run air and naval searches while the cruise ship uses its small craft to assist.
Vision of the Seas is sailing a 12 Night Southern Caribbean cruise that began in Baltimore.
This is one of Royal Caribbean's oldest and smallest cruise ships.
The 1997-built ship offers cruises year-round from Baltimore to Bermuda, The Bahamas, Caribbean and Florida.
Safety at sea
The chances of falling overboard on a cruise ship are extremely low.
Deck railings on Royal Caribbean cruise ships are at least 42-inches high, which comply Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act (CVSSA) of 2010.
In addition, there are thick metal or Plexiglas panels or metal bars are positioned under the railings to prevent people from slipping through.
When a man overboard situation occurs, the media usually reports on it and it leads some to wonder how it could happen in the first place.
An article from The Points Guy points out cruise ships have railings that are around chest height to ensure passenger safety and to prevent someone from slipping and falling overboard.
"The only way you risk a fall is if you're standing on furniture to peer over the side or climbing somewhere you're not supposed to. It's not possible for you to trip over a door frame or slip on a wet deck and fall off of a vessel."
Passengers going overboard are rare
The chances of a cruise ship passenger going overboard are quite low, but it does occasionally happen.
In a report from Cruise Line International Association (CLIA), there were 212 identified overboard incidents from cruise ships for either crew members or passengers between 2009 to 2019.
Of these overboard incidents, only 48 (or 28.2%) individuals were successfully rescued. Around 71.8% of people who go overboard from cruise ships are sadly never recovered or located.
The CLIA report also shows an overall decline in overboard incidents throughout the 10-year period. The overboard incident rate decreased 64% from 2009 to 2019, with an incidence rate of 0.00004 overboard reports per active lower berth in 2019.
The report states, “When compared with the growth in capacity in the industry over the study years, man overboard incidents continue on a downward trend.”
