Cruise Passenger Rescued after Falling Overboard from Ship

CruiseHive.com reports that On September 26th, a cruise ship passenger was rescued after falling overboard from the ship and spending an hour in the Pacific Ocean. The passenger, whose name wasn’t confirmed, was on the MSC Divina, which at the moment of the incident had just left Palma de Mallorca, Spain, towards Valencia. The event took place at approximately 6:00 AM local time.

Images of the rescue were captured by another passenger who then posted the video on his social media platform. Authorities still haven’t confirmed whether or not the victim jumped intentionally.

As we blogged last month, a cruise ship crew member lost his life after going overboard on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Rhapsody of the Seas. The victim, Mansley Pereira, was a 35-year-old man who worked as a waiter on the cruise ship. He lived in Goa, India, with his wife and two young children.

The Rhapsody of the Seas was docked in Dubrovnik, Croatia, when Pereira went overboard. Cruise ship crew members were immediately informed of the situation and followed numerous rescue and recovery procedures, without any luck. Reportedly, the possibility of Pereira committing suicide exists, but Pereira’s family insists that he was not have been capable of taking his own life.

In addition to Pereira’s death, a passenger went overboard as the Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas cruise ship departed St. Kitts towards St Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands last month as well, making the last several weeks a particularly active time for cruise ship overboard incidences.

Over the years, there has been a significant number of cruise ship passengers and crew members who have fallen overboard from cruise ships. Regardless of the causes, cruise ship authorities should create new strategies to both prevent these incidents from occurring, and to rescue the victims from the water before they lose their lives.