Man, 20, missing after jumping from Royal Caribbean cruise ship, report says

• A 20-year-old man on vacation with his family fell overboard on a Royal Caribbean cruise.

• The man, missing since early Thursday morning, may have jumped, according to a report.

• The US Coast Guard launched a search operation.

A 20 year old man on vacation with his family on a cruise, he may have jumped overboard, the New York Post reported.

Royal Caribbean has confirmed that a passenger, whose identity has not been released, went overboard near the Bahamas around 4 a.m. Thursday and has since been missing.

The US Coast Guard launched a search for the passenger on Thursday.

A Royal Caribbean spokesperson told Business Insider that the cruise line's “care team is providing support and assistance to the guest's family during this difficult time.”

Bryan Sims, another cruise passenger, told the New York Post that he spent time with the passenger in the hot tub until 3:30 a.m. Sims said the man appeared “pretty drunk.”

Sims told the Post that after leaving the spa, they encountered the passenger's father as they approached the elevators.

“His father used to blame him for being drunk,” Sims said.

Deborah Morrison, another passenger on the cruise, told the Post that “there was a lot of screaming and the crew was alerted immediately.”

“The ship’s crew immediately initiated a search and rescue operation alongside the U.S. Coast Guard, who took charge of the search,” the Royal Caribbean spokesperson said.

The Liberty of the Seas departed South Florida and was 57 miles from Great Inagua, Bahamas, when the passenger went overboard.

The cruise ship has 18 decks and can accommodate up to 3,634 passengers. It is served by a crew of approximately 1,300 people.

The chances of falling overboard on a cruise ship is extremely low.

In 2023, about 31 million passengers traveled on cruises, and at least 10 people went overboard, and two of them survived, Business Insider reported.

“Even one incident is one incident too many,” a spokesperson for the Cruise Lines International Association told Business Insider, adding that “the vast majority of cases are either reckless behavior or some form of intentional act. people do not inadvertently fall over the side of a ship.

Last month, a 23-year-old seasick man fell overboard from the MSC Euribia cruise ship while it was crossing Europe's North Sea and was presumed dead.

In December, an MSC Cruises passenger jumped from one of its ships while it was sailing between Europe and South America.

According to a CLIA report, only 28.2% of passengers who fell overboard between 2009 and 2019 were successfully rescued.

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