Source:  Cruise Junkie dot com

Cruise and Ferry Passengers and Crew Overboard
1995 - 2011
Summary (# of persons) -- 2000 - 2010

2000
 2001
 2002
 2003
 2004
 2005
 2006
 2007
 2008
 2009
 2010 2011 2012 Total
Carnival Corp









 
  Carnival
 2
 1
3
 4
 6
 5
 7
 2
 8
 3 3   44
  Costa





1
 1
 1
 3
 1 2   9
  Cunard
1

1
 1
 1


  4
  Holland America


2
1
 1

1
 1 2   8
 Ocean Village



5


1
  1
P&O






1

  1
  P&O Australia


1
1


1
 1 4
  Princess
 1

1
1
2
2
 1 2   10
Seabourn





1


  1
Crystal



1
 2



  3
RCCL









 
  Celebrity



1
1
1
 1
 1 4   9
  RCI
 3
 1
 2
3
 3
 4
 1
2
 3 2 2 26
NCL (Star)
 1
2
 1
1
 2
2
 1
 3 2   15
Silversea



1



1
   2
Other
 2
 2
1
 1
6
 8
 3
 5
 6 5   39
Total
 9
 5
 4
 9
 12
 16
 22
 20
 10
 25
 19 23 3 176
Source:  Cruise Junkie dot Com

Below is a comprehensive list of known cases of persons falling or jumping overboard since 1995.  All accounts (unless indicated) were reported in a media source or (in several cases) reported in private correspondence.
LINKS:   Home Page   Events Page   Health Outbreaks   Int'l Centre for Cruise Research   International Cruise Victims' (ICV) Organization
Date
 Ship
Cruise Line
 Incident
 Disposition
2012 (3 incidents; 3 persons)
February 3 Oasis of the Seas
Royal Caribbean International		 Associated Press reports a search is under way in waters near Mexico for a British cruise ship passenger who apparently went overboard. The Royal Caribbean International cruise line said Friday that another passenger saw the 30-year-old man go over the railing from his stateroom on the Allure of the Seas. That was backed up by footage from an onboard video camera. The man’s name was not immediately released. The man went overboard as the ship was sailing to Cozumel, Mexico. The Mexican Navy and Coast Guard are assisting in the search. The Allure of the Seas departed Sunday on a seven-night cruise from Fort Lauderdale.
Passenger overboard
January 16 Pacific Jewel
P&O Australia		 The Herald Sun reports an Australian cruise liner has turned back during a Pacific Islands cruise after a passenger went missing. A spokesman for P&O Cruises confirmed the Pacific Jewel had turned back after leaving Lifou, New Caledonia after an elderly woman was reported missing last night. “I can confirm the Pacific Jewel is currently searching for a female passenger reported missing last night,” the spokesman said. “A complete search of the ship was conducted but she was not found. “A review of all CCTV footage was conducted including footage of a balcony area and it became apparent a passenger had gone overboard,” he said. The spokesman said the ship was on day eight of a Pacific Islands cruise and was currently searching for the woman in the water between Lifou and Noumea. He confirmed the woman’s family was on board the ship.
Passenger missing
January 11 Monarch of the Seas
Royal Caribbean International		 Cruise News Daily reports a crew member witnessed a 25-year-old male crew member jumping overboard this morning at 5:45am when the ship was sailing in the Bahamas toward its scheduled call at Nassau. Video surveillance recordings later confirmed the man going overboard. The incident was immediately reported, and the ship turned and began a search. All appropriate authorities were notified, including the Bahamian government. Three other cruise ships in the area joined the search. They were Carnival Sensation, Disney Dream and Norwegian Jewel. A US Coast Guard MH-60 helicopter was also dispatched from a US Navy base in the Bahamas to assist at the request of Bahamian authorities. At 9am, the Bahamian Coast Guard released the cruise ships from the search and they continued on their way. The Bahamian Coast Guard and US Coast Guard are continuing their search.
Person overboard
       
2011 (23 incidents; 23 persons)
December 27 Celebrity Summit
Celebrity Cruises		 The Associated Press reports The U.S. Coast Guard says it has suspended a search for a 30-year-old female bartender who worked aboard a cruise ship and jumped overboard near Puerto Rico. The Coast Guard said in a statement late Monday that the Filipino woman was an employee with the Celebrity Summit cruise ship. Officials said she jumped late Sunday as the ship passed just northeast of the popular tourist island of Culebra. They did not identify the woman or say whether they had uncovered a possible motive for her action. The ship operated by Celebrity Cruises had just left Puerto Rico and was headed toward Barbados.
Crew overboard
December 16 Star Princess
Princess Cruises		 From a passenger: Having left Gibraltar to begin our Atlantic crossing we were told that a young (23? Year old) dishwasher from India had taken his own life be jumping off the stern of the ship. His action was not discovered for about 5 or 6 hours but was confirmed by cameras on deck. We turned back and spent the next 12+ hours returning and searching before the captain was told to continue on the journey to Brazil.
Crew overboard
December 3 Carnival Inspiration
Carnival Cruise Lines		 From a passenger: Everyone on the ship which returned this morning was talking about a man who jumped leaving a note behind. His name was called over the loud speaker numerous times. The first I heard of it and as I continued to hear it the story stayed the same without embellishment. His wife died recently but he took the cruise anyway and then did this.
Person overboard
November 4 Norwegian Sun
Norwegian Cruise Line		 The Jamaica Observer reports the Trelawny police were up to press time last night unable to give the identity of a cruise passenger who died after allegedly jumping from the top deck of the cruise ship Norwegian Sun shortly after it pulled out of the Falmouth shipping pier late Wednesday. Head of the Falmouth Police Division Superintendent Andrew Lewis said he was informed that the cruise passenger was taken from the water by crew members of the vessel, which had turned around after an alarm was raised that the passenger had jumped. The police reported that the incident occurred 25 minutes after the vessel left the Falmouth cruise shipping pier about 6:00 pm, but Superintendent Lewis was unable to establish the circumstances which "led to the man falling in the water". Last night Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett expressed regret over the incident but said he was satisfied that the circumstances has nothing to do the destination.
Person overboard
October 28 Ventura
P&O Cruises		 USA Today reports several UK news outlets today are reporting on a dramatic rescue of a man who plunged off a cruise ship in the Atlantic. The London Evening Standard says passengers on the ship were roused out of sleep before sunrise this morning by emergency horns and the launch of lifeboats as crew members searched for the unnamed person, who was pulled out of the ocean alive. The news outlet says the man was spotted by passengers. "It has all been very dramatic," one passenger on the ship told the Evening Standard. "It was pitch black. This guy is so, so lucky." There's no word on how the man went overboard or whether he was a passenger or a member of the ship's crew. The ship is on a 15-night voyage to the Caribbean out of Southampton, England. See also the Daily Echo.
Person overboard / rescued
October 4 Maasdam
Holland America Line		 CBC reports a 75-year-old man whose body was pulled from the Northumberland Strait near western P.E.I. He was reported missing by his wife shortly after 8 a.m. Tuesday after the ship docked in Charlottetown. Crew on the ship, which left from Montreal on Saturday on a seven-day cruise, conducted a shipwide search but failed to locate the man. The Canadian Coast Guard and local law enforcement were contacted but a search of the ship's route did not locate the man. A lobster fisherman found a body, which was brought to a wharf in Abram-Village around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. The cruise line Holland America issued a press release confirming the body was their passenger.
Pax overboard
September 25 Carnival Conquest
Carnival Cruise Lines		 KHOU-TV reports authorities were searching for a man who jumped off a Carnival cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico, officials said. The 39-year-old man, identified as Clint Wayne Markham from Forney, was seen jumping off the Carnival Conquest on Friday around 6:30 p.m., shortly after the ship left Cozumel, according to a statement from Carnival. Officials said the company alerted authorities and returned to the ship to where the man was last seen to begin searching for him. The cruise ship was later released from the search while Mexican authorities continued to look for him. “We’re sorry to say that at this time, the missing guest has not been located. However, the Mexican navy remains on site and continues with the search,” wrote the ship’s captain, Antonio Sammartano, in a letter given to passengers. An unconfirmed source says the guy was drunk and got into an argument with his female companion.  Allegedly he said, “If I jump do you think they’ll look for me?”  
Pax overboard
September 14 Balmoral
Fred Olsen Cruises		 The Mirror reports passengers disembarking from cruise ship Balmoral in Southampton yesterday were questioned by police over the disappearance of an elderly man who is believed to have committed suicide by going overboard in the North Sea. Some were delayed by up to three hours at the end of their eight-day cruise to the Norwegian fjords. The man, who is believed to have been travelling alone, was last seen at dinner on Sunday, shortly after the 44,000-ton ship left Stavanger. He was reported missing the following morning when a stewardess found a note in his cabin. The ship was by then in the North Sea, to the east of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. The man has not yet been named by police, but he was described by fellow passengers as a "pleasant elderly British gentleman." Passengers were shown pictures of him and were asked to inform the police if they thought they knew what had happened to him. A spokesperson for Fred Olsen Cruise Lines said the company was cooperating fully with Coastguard and police.
Pax missing
September 6 Princess Seaways
DFDS Ferries		 BBC reports a woman has been rescued after falling overboard from a Newcastle passenger ferry bound for the Netherlands. She fell overboard at about 20:35 BST on Monday. The ferry then reversed course and rescued her off the coast of Flamborough Head, at about 21:00 BST. The woman, 23, from Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire, was taken to Scarborough Hospital, where she was kept in overnight and then released. 'Reversing course' Mike Green, watch manager at Humber Coastguard said the water temperature would have been between 11C and 12C. He said he did not know how she fell off the vessel. Mr Green added: "We received a call about 20:45 last night from the Princess Seaways DFDS ferry out of Newcastle. They said they'd had a person overboard and they were reversing their course. "We alerted the RAF Sea King helicopter and put the Scarborough and Filey lifeboats on stand-by in case we had an extended search. "The crew of the DFDS ferry were very efficient with their man-overboard procedures, they managed to get a visual contact with the lady, launched their rescue craft and managed to get her on board the ferry."
Pax overboard - rescued alive
July 23 Oosterdam
Holland America Line
The Alaska Daily News reports a 20 year old California man may have gone overboard somewhere between Sitka and Ketchikan. The man is believed to have disappeared into the water between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m. Friday while the vessel was sailing to Ketchikan. HAL subsequently issue the following statement: During the July 17 seven-day Alaska sailing of ms Oosterdam, a 20-year old male guest was reported missing by his family at approximately 2:30 p.m. local time on July 22. He was last seen by his family between midnight and 1:00 a.m. that same day and the ship’s gangway records do not indicate that he went ashore in Ketchikan during the July 22 call. Per marine regulation and protocol, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) and law enforcement authorities were contacted with all known information and the ship’s course. Following established procedures, the ship’s crew has also conducted a thorough search of the ship without locating the guest. The USCG has launched a search along the route the ship transited. We have offered full support and cooperation for the search conducted by the USCG. The current cruise will end in Seattle on Sunday, July 24. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.
Pax missing
June 20 Norwegian Spirit
Norwegian Cruise Line		 USA Today reports a passenger sailing out of New Orleans late Sunday was rescued after plunging from the vessel into the water. In a brief statement sent to USA TODAY, Norwegian Cruise Line says the incident occurred at approximately 8 p.m. local time as the 2,018-passenger Norwegian Spirit was traveling down the Mississippi River toward the Gulf of Mexico. The vessel had just begun a seven-night voyage to the Western Caribbean three hours earlier. "The ship immediately deployed its rescue boat; the guest was recovered and returned safely back to the ship," the line says. Norwegian Cruise Line didn't say how the unidentified male passenger went overboard but indicated that he was injured in the plunge. "The medical team onboard attended to his injuries and arrangements were made to disembark the guest for further treatment," the statement says.
Overboard - rescued alive
May 27 Ruby Princess
Princess Cruises		 From a reader: On Friday, May 27, 2011, early in the morning at about 2:15 a.m., the Ruby Princess was sailing from Athens to Venice.  At about that time, the Captain came across the speaker stating that there was a man overboard and that the ship would be turning around to try to save him.  After about an hour and 45 minutes, the Captain announced that they located the man and had saved him.  The sea water was about 68 degrees and we heard the man was a crew member (cook) who had jumped.  
Crew member overboard (rescued)
May 22 Eclipse
Celebrity Cruises		 The Daily Mail reports a 31 year old Filipini crew member was seen on CCTV climbing over a railing and jumping from the ship at around 10.15pm on Friday. The ship was eight miles north of the French port of Cherbourg when the incident happened. The vessel was immediately turned around and headed back towards the spot from where the man had jumped. Colleagues alerted the French coastguard but no trace of him was found during an overnight search. Emergency workers called off the search-and-rescue mission yesterday. The ship was returning from a 14-night Italian Mediterranean cruise that left Southampton on May 7.
Crew member overboard
May 4 Millennium
Celebrity Cruises		 The Associated Press reports a 63 year old woman went missing from the cruise ship between Cabo and San Diego. Her absence was realized when the ship prepared to disembark in San Diego and she could not be found. The company subsequently said according to surveillance video the woman was seen jumping overboard. A search by the US Coast Guard was not fruitful.
Passenger overboard
May 4 Costa Concordia
Costa Cruises		 French media report a 30 year old Russian male passenger went missing from the ship in the Mediterranean near Toulon. The ship was transitting between Barcelona and Savona when the man disappeared Monday (May 2) night. A search was undertaken but with no results.
Passeger overboard
April 21 Unknown
Thomson Cruises		 The Press Association of the UK reports a 63-year-old man has gone missing while on a cruise ship holiday in Egypt. A Thames Valley Police spokesman said officers are becoming increasingly concerned for the welfare of John Halford, of Greenleys, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. Mr Halford left Luton Airport on March 31 to join the Thomson cruise but when it finished in Sharm El Sheikh on April 7, he was not on board. It is thought he went missing some time between 11.45pm on April 6 and 7.30am on April 7.
Pax missing
March 24 Disney Wonder
Disney Cruise Line		 From a crew member: Two days ago one of the youth activities counselors apparently went over board. It was at 3 am. They are still searching the ship without any news about her. The disappearance was subsequently reported by News in Orlando. They report the crew member is believed to have gone missing Tuesday from the cruise ship, which is in the middle of a 7-day cruise. On Tuesday the ship was at sea. UPDATE: BBC News reports the 24 year old woman's parents theard from her the day befoe she went missing. They say "She sent me a message on the Monday and she was going to ring me on
the Tuesday, and that's when she disappeared."
Crew member overboard
March 22 Constellation
Celebrity Cruises		 Cruise Law News reports Indian crew member Anthony Rodriguez went overboard on March 10, 2011. Mr. Fernandes was a 19 year employee of the cruise line. His family members in Mumbai were not notified for two days and were not given an explanation for him going overboard.
Crew member overboard
March 15 Carnival Miracle
Carnival Cruise Lines		 Media in Curacao report a 47 year old Filipino crew member went missing between Aruba and Curacao.
Crew member missing
February 20 Grandeur of the Seas
Royal Caribbean International		 There have been several reports of a person overboard. Two media sources (here and here) have accounts of an Indonsian crew member overboard, although a reader indicates a Code Oscar was called because a passenger went overboard. In any case, the common theme is that a person disappeared from the ship while it was off the coast of Aruba on February 18, and details have not been given by the cruise line.
Crew member overboard
February 7 Ship unknown
Tallink-Sija Line		 The Baltic Times reports a Latvian man who fell overboard while travelling on a Tallink cruise liner from Stockholm to Riga has still not been found, rescue workers say. The man fell overboard at appoximately 2:45 in the morning. A search involving numerous boats and helicopters ensued, but rescuers were unable to locate the man by the time the search was called off at about 8 am. Medics say it is unlikely that the man would be able to survive for more than a few minutes in the frigid waters.
Pax overboard
January 5 Liberty of the Seas
Royal Caribbean International		 News 7 in Belize reports a 21 year old man either jumped or fell to his death from the 12th. level of the ship. His family noticed that he was missing around 9:00 this morning and when he couldn't be found on the ship the crew reviewed video from the security cameras. That showed him jumping - or falling - from the twelfth deck of the ship at 3:25 am. The deck is over a hundred feet above the sea. It is estimated to have happened 6 miles west off Maaga Caye Lighthouse at Turneffe Island - which is out in the blue where the depth of the sea is in the hundreds of feet. That's still in Belizean waters and today the Belize Coast Guard and Belize Port Authority carried out searches but up to late this evening they hadn't found anything.
Pax overboard
January 4 Costa Atlantica
Costa Cruises		 The Sun Sentinel reports a cruise ship worker who drowned at Port Everglades earlier this week committed suicide, according to the Broward Sheriff's Office. Ramakrishan Balasubramanian, 25, of India, was found unresponsive in the water along the left side of the docked Costa Atlantica at about 8 p.m. Sunday. He was an assistant waiter on the ship. A uniform keeper on the ship told police he was on the third deck when he heard a splashing noise. He said he looked over the rail, saw Balasubramanian in the water, and threw a floatable life ring. Balasubramanian seemed unable to put on the floatation device, the uniform keeper said, according to the report. Coast Guard rescuers arrived soon after and found Balasubramanian face down in the water. He was rushed to Broward General Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. Balasubramanian was the subject of an internal investigation following an allegation he had sexually harassed someone.

Crew overboard
?Suicide?
2010 (19 incidents; 19 persons)
December 23 Sea Princess
Princess Cruises		 Metro News (UK) reports a 50-year-old woman went overboard from the balcony of her cabin while the ship was sailing between Curaçao and Grand Turk islands. The ship turned around to comb the area and a search plane was launched but both drew a blank. The woman was reported missing by her husband on the fifth day of their two-week Christmas trip. Princess Cruises published a statement which said: 'The ship was alerted by her husband, who had discovered her missing from their cabin, and our missing persons routine was immediately begun to account for all passengers onboard. 'A review of CCTV footage confirms that the passenger went over the side of the ship from a balcony cabin.' The ship is currently on a two week cruise from Barbados. The ship was on the fifth day of the sailing, which is scheduled to conclude on December 27.
Pax overboard
December 22 Orchestra
MSC Cruises		 Brazilian media report a 19 year old male passenger fell from 14th floor around 4AM today while the ship was anchored at Ilhabela, in the coast of the state of Sao Paulo. Apparently the man was talking with friends near the disco, when he seated on the rail and fell backwards. Friends threw floaters, but he did not answer. After the rescue he was brought to hospital to be declared dead. The man was the only son of a couple too shocked to give statements (they were not on the ship). He was himself a rescuer and studied biomedicine at an university in Curitiba, the capital of the state of Parana, Brazil.
Fall overboard
October 13 Carnival Splendor
Carnival Cruise Lines		 John Heald's Blog reports a crew member was seen jumping overboard at 1AM. A search was undertaken, but he was not found.
Crew member overboard
October 12 Balmoral
Fred Olsen Cruises		 BBC reports a 79-year-old British man was reported missing about 45 miles (72km) south of The Lizard in Cornwall. An air and sea search involving British and French coastguards and warships was called off on Monday evening. Officers from Kent Police boarded the ship when she berthed at Dover. The man was, who has not been named, was on a three-week cruise in the Adriatic.
Passenger missing
October 5 Mirage I
Yesh Shipping		 Cyprus Mail reports the search for an Israeli cruise ship passenger who fell overboard off the coast of Cyprus has been halted after eighteen hours without a trace of the 26-year-old man. The Israeli, who reportedly suffered from depression, was travelling from Haifa to Limassol. Yesh spokesman Ronan Kaplan said that at 1am on Monday, when the ship was around 180 miles south of Cyprus the crew received a message from the Israeli police that one of the passengers was planning to commit suicide after his father found a suicide note. “From that moment the man was announced as a missing person, the ship’s crew halted all leisure activities, searched the ship and paged the passenger” Kaplan told the Jerusalem post. The ship then retraced its course to search for the man and by 3am a full scale search and rescue operation.
Passenger overboard (suicide)
September 26 Macau Success
Success Cruises		 Agence France Presse reports a 47-year-old man from mainland China will appear in a Hong Kong court Monday on a charge of murder over the death of a woman who last week fell from a cruise ship. The man was arrested Friday after the 43-year-old woman fell into the sea off Waglan Island, near the eastern edge of Hong Kong's territory, a special autonomous region in southern China. A Hong Kong newspaper reported Saturday that the woman was pulled unconscious from the water 50 minutes after she was pushed overboard from the casino ship. The woman was pronounced dead by rescuers and marine police arrested her 47-year-old husband on board the Macau Success for questioning, the South China Morning Post reported. The ship is one of several passenger ships that ferry gamblers from Hong Kong into international waters, beyond the jurisdiction of city's strict controls on gambling.
Passenger pushed overboard
September 21 SuperStar Aquarius
Star Cruises		 AOL Travel reports A 51-year-old Chinese man jumped to his death after apparently losing more than $386,000 in the casino. The 1,500-passenger ship was on its way back to Hong Kong after a two-day party cruise when the incident occurred, according to local news reports. Xu was seen betting at a gaming table after dinner, and remained at the table until 8 a.m., according to other passengers. After the big losses, he reportedly wandered around the top deck of the 13-deck ship for about an hour before taking his fatal leap. A spokesman for Star Cruises says the captain was alerted someone had fallen into the sea, stopped the ship and called in rescue teams. The man's body was retrieved. Police ruled out foul play.
Passenger overboard - body recovered
September 18 Celebrity Solstice
Celebrity Cruises		 From a reader: The story on the cruise that I was on goes like this: On early Friday morning around 130 am a person fell overboard from the 5th floor. It took them about an hour to locate and rescue the person who was alive(amazing). He was fighting and very belligerent when he was rescued. They put the person in handcuffs and he was taking off the ship in the next port of sail which was Roatan Honduras. The gentleman of approximately 65 years of age had an arguement with his wife at an 80's party being held in the Sky Lounge near the bow. At about 1:30am on deck 5 starboard he removed most of his clothing and dove off the deck. Fast acting crew members threw a flashing buoy overboard immediately to mark his location and the man-overboard call was made. The Captain was summoned and many of us heard the code "Oscar, Oscar" Apparently 2-zodiacs were launched the second after some issues with the first....of this I am not certain. Upon reaching the very lucking gentleman he did not wish to be rescued and when pulled on board the zodiac became beligerant and hence was cuffed. We were told he was removed from the ship in Roatan. Yesterday in the afternoon, on our last day at sea, the Captain came on the loudspeaker and thanked his hard working crew for their efforts for the rescue. My husband recorded a You Tube video of him being rescued. There are photos here.
Passenger rescued alive
July 25 Carnival Liberty
Carnival Cruise Lines		 A poster at Cruise Critic reports while pulling into Half Moon Cay a man went overboard. Speculation there was a couple fighting badly in the casino last night and he jumped. Felt like forever to get him but we think we saw movement after they got him on the lifeboat. A subsequent post gives more details: So here is what I know. I was walking down the hall to my room when I heard "bravo bravo starboard side". Within seconds I got to my door and could here the other people in our party out on the deck with raised voices. I ran outside to find that they saw the man actually fall below. They had heard people start to scream and they looked over the balcony to see him falling from what they could tell right around the lifeboats. He stayed submerged for what felt like was 30 seconds or so. Someone did manage to throw out a ring and it appeared he had it but we later realized he didn't. I think he tried swimming and fighting the ocean for awhile...and he completely went out of sight...he then reappeared floating on his back. The crew did an excellent job...but it was very scary. When the lifeboat finally reached him they struggled to get him on the lifeboat but they got him in. When the lifeboat came around and we could see inside they were not performing CPR so we assumed he was awake. We have heard around the ship that he is alive. Somebody on the ship said it was a band member who got into an argument in the casino....not sure about all the details. The whole ordeal probably took about five to ten minutes. Whatever the reason ..I hope he is okay.
Crew member overboard - Rescued alive
May 25 Oasis of the Seas
Royal Caribbean International		 Fox News reports the U.S. Coast Guard was searching today for a crewmember who went overboard. Dillon Roache, 45, of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, was reported missing Monday and was later confirmed to have gone overboard as the ship made its way from Nassau, Bahamas, to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. The ship retraced the ship’s route to search for Roache but were unable to find him. The ship handed over the search efforts Tuesday morning and continued with a modified itinerary.
Crew member overboard
May 5 Explorer of the Seas
Royal Caribbean International

From a reader: A family member on the ship told me last evening (5/5)that the ship's captain informed all passengers through an announcement that a crew member had climbed over a railing and jumped at 8:15 PM (local time). They circled for approximately 2 hours with all available ship personnel assisting in search. No passengers were allowed outside during this time. At approximately 12:23 AM this morning (eastern standard time) the ship headed back to its last port of call (San Juan) in an effort to locate missing crew person. The missing crew member is 27 years old. The ship will apparently return to Bayonne, NJ more than six hours late on Saturday. Passengers on the next sailing are advised to not arrive at the cruise terminal earlier than 7:30PM.
Crew member overboard
May 3 Pride of America
Norwegian Cruise Line America		 The Honolulu Advertiser reports a crewman fell overboard yesterday morning about 13 hours after the cruise ship left Honolulu Harbor and was quickly picked up by crew members in a rescue boat.
Crew overboard (rescued alive)
April 29 Sovereign
Pullmantur Cruises		 From a reader: A Russian man, 54 years old, went overboard from the ship Sovereign after it left from Civitavecchia harbour. A search was immediatly undertaken with 11 patrol boats and airplanes. The man was found dead from a patrol boat out of Livorno sea. From Italian paper "Il Tirreno".
Person overboard
April 21 Carnival Legend
Carnival Cruise Lines		 From a reader: On Wednesday the 21st when we were just about to leave Cozumel, a man jumped overboard. He was rescued and then taken into custody by the Mexican police. This was observed by many and I have a picture of the police boat. Later in the week we were told by a crew member that the man's new bride (the couple were on their honeymoon) was found in their stateroom beaten and unconcious. We were all very startled by the events.
Pax overboard (rescued)
March 22 Radiance of the Seas
Royal Caribbean International		 According to the cruise community site Cruise Line Fans, a "man overboard" was  reported at 8:00 p.m. last night from the ship. Here is the account:"At about 8pm last night the call was heard OSCAR! OSCAR! OSCAR! PORT SIDE!  The ship shook as it slowed done and turned around.  Flashing buoy rings could be seen in the distance.  The rescue boats was quickly launched. Within 20 minutes CPR was being conducted on a man being brought back onboard." According to the website, the man was pronounced dead an hour later; he was a crew member who the website says "apparently purposely went overboard," however this is conjecture and may not be the case.
Person (crew) overboard
March 2 Costa Serena
Costa Cruises		 A reader reports there was a person overboard on the ship on Saturday while in the Atlantic between the Canary Islands and Malaga. The news was confirmed by the Company; the man overboard is a 34 year old French man.
Person overboard
February 26 Rotterdam
Holland America Line		 A reader provided the following report: Around 10 A.M. this morning, morning while breakfast was going on, one guest, supposedly of cabin 1905, jumped from the outside deck. The jump was apparently witnessed as there was an immediate man overboard call and the ship manouvered quickly and then anchored and a search happened. The ship staff searched for hours, and then about 5 pm, they recovered the man's body. The ship has been under code red for 6 days for norovirus and the staff was already under huge stress.
Passenger overboard
February 21 Pacific Venus
Japan Cruise Line		 The Honolulu Advertiser reports the U.S. Coast Guard will resume searching for a crew member who went overboard Saturday when the ship was south of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The ship, on its way back to Japan, reported the 24-year-old crew member went overboard at 2 p.m. Saturday. The cruise ship was about 300 miles southwest of Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands when it first reported the crew member missing. Crew member missing
January 7 Norwegian Jade
Norwegian Cruise Line		 A reader reports a man went overboard. Discussions with crew indicated he was wearing a life jacket. He was apparently rescued and then put off the ship in Turkey. I personally heard the operation bright star called out about 30 minutes before sunset, and saw the ship come to a stop. I then saw rescue boats in the water. It was announced by the cruise director at the show that night that the man was "rescued and re-united with his family". From another reader: I will confirm that there was a passenger overboard, off the coast of Egypt. The ship changed course to locate and rescue him, and lucky for him they were quick about it, as darkness was falling. We heard unofficially that he jumped with a life jacket, and officially that he was rescued alive. From the jumper: This is seriously from the man overboard that day. I'm writing to you cuz some of what was posted isn't correct. January 9th 2010 close to sunset shortly after awaking from a nap I jumped from the 11th floor with my life vest on. Reason for jumping..... well that's between me and my family. I was told the rescue took 30min. I was then deported off the ship in Egypt to another hospital. Only injuries i had where bruised legs and a cramped neck for a week. Thankful for being alive. Although i now owe ncl 5,565,000 for jumping not even including the 1,300.00 stay at the ic on ship. Rescued alive
2009 (22 incidents; 25 persons)
December 31 Monarch of the Seas
Royal Caribbean International		 Florida Today reports the Coast Guard is searching for a 23-year-old woman (the wife of an employee who had been hired by RCI but had not yet begun work) who reportedly went overboard near the Bahamas about 4 a.m. today. She went overboard from the 12th deck of the ship near Nassau, Bahamas. The ship is scheduled to return to Port Canaveral on Saturday. According to RCCL, The guest was last seen at 3:45 a.m. At that time, the ship was sailing from Nassau to Coco Cay, Bahamas. As soon as the guest was reported missing, various public announcements were made onboard and a complete search of the ship, as well of CocoCay, was initiated. Shipboard closed-circuit camera footage captured the guest going overboard on deck 11, portside at approximately 4:11 a.m. Government officials have reviewed the footage and determined that the guest jumped overboard. UPDATE: Times of India reports the woman's family has submitted a written complaint to police alleging that she had been physically and mentally tortured for dowry by her husband and in-laws. She was reported missing at 12:15AM by her husband, a manager onboard the ship. January 3: Press Trust of India reports police today lodged an FIR against the husband, his parents and his sister for dowry harassment, beating and criminal breach of trust. Pax overboard
December 11 Majesty of the Seas
Royal Caribbean International		 The Miami Herald reports the Coast Guard found a man who was missing at sea for about two hours after falling off the ship near Biscayne Bay on Friday morning -- at about 4:30 AM the ship issued a distress call stating crewmember Robert Mado, 31 (an assistant purser), had gone overboard about five miles off the Fowey Rocks. Two hours later, authorities found Mado alive, but his health condition remains unknown. The ship was on its way to Miami from Key West.
Crew member overboard - rescued alive
November 29 Coral Princess
Princess Cruises		 Associated Press reports Colombian maritime authorities searched Sunday for an Italian chef believed to have gone overboard from the ship while off Colombia's Caribbean coast. The 31 year old man was last seen in the galley at about 8:15 p.m. on Nov. 25 while he was working the dinner shift while the ship was sailing between Aruba and Cartagena, Colombia. His family was alerted Thursday that he had been reported missing and that a life preserver was also missing, with its nighttime illumination flares torn off and left aboard the ship. His sister said, "He surely didn't jump off. It wasn't suicide. We think there was an accident or a homicide." The ship left Miami on Nov. 23 and is currently en route from Panama to Acapulco, Mexico; it is due to dock in Los Angeles on Dec. 7, at which point the FBI is expected to join the investigation.
Crew member missing
November 22 Tallink Victoria
Tallink		 Uutiset (Finland) reports a search and rescue operation for a man who fell off the ship off the coast of Hanko was called off Sunday morning. The man is now presumed drowned. Authorities said they did everything they could to find him, but to no avail. The ship was en route from Tallinn to Stockholm via Mariehamn. The man went overboard before ten p.m. on Saturday night. Nearby cargo vessels and three cruise ships joined Coast Guard helicopters and boats in the search for the man. "After hours of searching, the civilian vessels returned to their routes while the Coast Guard continued until four a.m. Generally, hypothermia sets in between half an hour to an hour if the water is six or seven degrees Celsius.
Overrboard - Missing
November 22 Silver Shadow
Silversea Cruises		 The Miami Herald reports a Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued Ronald Shulman, 62, who went overboard the cruise ship around 3 a.m. Sunday morning. He was found swimming 20 miles southeast of Government Cut (near Miami) around 7:45 a.m. It is not known how Shulman, who was traveling alone, went overboard. Cruise operators noticed Shulman was missing and contacted the Coast Guard. A crew from Air Station Miami recovered the man, lowering a rescue swimmer from a helicopter. Shulman was back on the cruise ship Sunday morning, with a touch of hypothermia from his long night in the water, according to a Coast Guard spokeswoman.
Overbroard - Rescued alive
November 6 Solstice
Celebrity Cruises		 From a passenger: I'm a passenger on Celebrity Solstice between Santorini and Naples. At 9PM local time tonight, a female passenger jumped purposefully from Deck 14. She has been identified by the crew but the name not released. The coast guard are conducting a search but she has not been found as yet. UPDATE November 7: Solstice searched in the darkness with spotlights for 10 hours assisted by at least one more cruise ship as well as at least one coast guard boat and an aircraft. Flares were deployed as well, but to no avail. She was not found. We continued on toward Naples and will ariive about an hour late.
Pax overboard
September 23 Sapphire Princess
Princess Cruises		 Vancouver Sun reports a search is underway for a 67-year-old American woman who boarded the ship in Alaska on Sunday but never got off in Vancouver when the ship docked at Canada Place on Wednesday morning. Crew members checked the woman's cabin where they found all her belongings. Rescue crews in three helicopters immediately started searching the waters between Comox and Vancouver on Wednesday, while Vancouver police have boarded the ship at Canada Place. It's not clear where the woman may have gone overboard or how long the search will take. UPDATE: Subsequent reports indicate the woman jumped overboard at 6:08 AM Tuesday morning based on video surveillance equipment. The ship was more than 200 miles south of Ketchikan. Earlier, the cruise line had said she went overboard Monday evening around 6 p.m. near Ketchikan, in southeast Alaska, and the Coast Guard had been searching in that area for two days.
Missing Pax (suicide)
September 17 Costa Atlantica
Costa Crociere		 Il Messaggero reports on November 5 that a 28 year old man, a second engineer, disappeared from the ship while enroute to Barcelona. His body was found the next day at dawn. "His death is a tragedy but it is also a mystery. He had just been promoted, was happy, the family rules out suicide. But how is it possible that an experienced sailor from falling into the sea from his ship and drown? A mystery for all, a tragedy for the parents and friends. And mysteries and tragedies of the cruise ships they could tell many, too many."
Officer overboard
September 3 Sensation
Carnival Cruise Lines		 WPTV West Pam Beach reports a 34-year old male passenger who went overboard has been rescued overnight by a nearby Disney cruise vessel. A mayday emergency signal was issued at about 11:30 PM. last night, asking for help from any boat or ship that could help try and locate the missing passenger. The Disney Wonder located the man at about 12:40 AM. The U.S. Coast Guard says the rescue took place approximately 28 nautical milies (32.4 miles) off the Port St. Lucie shoreline. Both cruise vessels were on journeys between Port Canaveral and The Bahamas. It is unclear if the passenger was injured and required any immediate medical attention. It is also unknown how the man went off the Carnival ship. The Sun Sentinel subsequently reports the jumper could be heard arguing with a woman on the final night of the cruise. "He threatened to jump, and she said, 'Go ahead,' and he did," said a fellow passenger. "Then we heard the man screaming, 'Help! Help!'" The Coast Guard sent out a helicopter and two boats, and the Sensation launched its own search. But it's attempts made little headway. According to passengers, the crew launched a rescue boat, but its sailors forgot to untie it from the cruise ship; the rescue boat tipped, filled with water, and never joined the search. A second rescue boat never launched, despite complaints of passengers. The ship's search lights were weak and crew members aimed flashlights at the water. For over an hour he was screaming for help and passengers shouted at him to hold on. Passenger overboard - rescued
August 3 Zaandam
Holland America Line		 Anchorage Daily News reports a 45-year-old woman has gone missing, presumed overboard, between Douglas Island and Glacier Bay National Park. The last known sighting of the woman was about 12:30 a.m., when she ordered room service while the ship was near Douglas Island. She was reported missing by a friend about 9 a.m., after the ship was already in the park. In a statement released Monday, Holland America said the ship's crew conducted a thorough search and was unable to find the woman, whose family has been notified of her disappearance. The ship sailed from Seattle Friday bound for Alaska on a seven-day cruise and departed Juneau bound for Glacier Bay on Sunday. The Coast Guard deployed an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Sitka and diverted the patrol boats Long Island and Liberty and launched two rescue boats from Station Juneau. The Civil Air Patrol is also assisting the search with two aircraft and the park service is combing the shoreline with multiple vessels, the Coast Guard said. They are focusing their search on Stephens Passage, Lynn Canal and Icy Strait. The water temperature in the area is about 57 degrees. UPDATE: About 4:30 p.m. a helicopter found a body washed up on the west side of Douglas Island. The tide had apparently carried the body to shore and left it high on the beach as it receded. The body was taken to Juneau to be positively identified.
Pax Overboard
July 18 Costa Classica
Costa Crociere 		Earth Times reports a Hong Kong mother and son disappeared while traveling between Hong Kong and Taijin, China. The pair were reported missing July 7. They apparently went missing the fourth day of the cruise while the ship was visiting ports in Japan. A source quoted in the Hong Kong Standard newspaper said three letters were found in their cabin outlining how their assets should be distributed in the event of their deaths. Investigators also found several plates of fruit indicating the pair might have conducted a ceremony.
Missing Pax
June 23 Ocean Village
Ocean Village Cruise Holidays>		 A poster at Cruise Critic reports a crew member fell to his death in Palma on Tuesday, round about lunchtime. We heard the call Man Overboard, Muster, but as it was called out in a low key tone we thought nothing more of it. But then some of us went up to top deck and leaned over the balcony and watched as the tender came in with what looked like a model in the back. We thought it was a practice but a passenger stated (having been told by someone) that it was indeed for real, that a workman had fallen from the ship and wasn't breathing. We saw the medics on board the tender, taking photos and feeling his limbs, then were all moved away from the railing. The Majorca Daily Bulletin says the body of the 42 year old Indian man was 42 was spotted floating in the sea at about midday. Crewmember overboard
June 16 Carnival Holiday
Carnival Cruise Lines		 CNN reports a search is underway for a passenger (50 year old woman) who apparently disappeared from a cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico. The ship, which sailed from Mobile, Alabama, was stopped about a third of the way to Cozumel, Mexico, and passengers were told to return to their cabins for a head count. A U.S. Coast Guard spokesman said the count was initiated because a crew member had heard a loud splash near the vessel. The ship appeared to be circling in Gulf waters Tuesday. Passengers were told in an audio message Tuesday that the ship would proceed to Cozumel when the Coast Guard released it, but the ship's arrival to the Mexican city would be delayed. The passenger is believed to have fallen about 10:30 p.m. CT Monday, and boats were launched from the cruise ship to search nearby waters. The FBI said its violent crimes unit is investigating Vilborg's disappearance. FBI Agent Tim White said agents are looking at every possible angle. UPDATE: See follow-up article quoting woman's husband here. Person overboard
June 15 Carnival Inspiration
Carnival Cruise Lines		 Sun Coast News reports crewmembers from a pilot vessel rescued a 46 year old man clinging to a buoy at about 6:50 a.m., about one mile southeast of Mullet Key, in Fort Desoto, in St. Petersburg. He went overboard at 4AM when he slipped after climbing up on a railing to get a better view of the pilot boat. The ship was returning from a four-day cruise.
Person overboard - rescued
May 25 Carnival Fantasy
Carnival Cruise Lines		 WWL News reports the Coast Guard is searching for an 18 year old man who "fell" overboard (some sources say he jumped) from a cruise ship Sunday at around 9:45 p.m., about 150 miles southwest of Tampa. The ship left port in New Orleans and was en-route to Key West when the incident occurred. A search-and-rescue mission was launched by the Coast Guard out of Miami, but the man has not been found.
Passenger overboard
May 18 P&O Express
P&O Ferries		 The BBC reports a man with a psychiatric condition was seen jumping from the Larne to Troon ferry on Sunday evening. The boat, which was travelling at about 30 knots, turned around to look for him. It launched its onboard fast rescue craft and a helicopter from Prestwick and a RNLI lifeboat from Girvan joined the search. The man was winched to safety and taken to hospital after the vessel docked at Troon.
Person overboard - rescued
April 18 Norwegian Sky
Norwegian Cruise Line		 The Miami Herald reports the Coast Guard is searching early Saturday for a 39-year-old man who went overboard the cruise ship Norwegian Sky around 3 a.m. about 60 miles north of the Nassau, Bahamas. The ship left Miami for a three-day cruise, and was headed to its first port of call, Nassau. The name of the passenger was not released. Fellow passengers saw him go overboard. Also assisting in the search were The Royal Bahamas Defense Force, the Royal Caribbean Monarch of the Seas cruise ship crew, the Norwegian Pearl cruise ship crew and Disney cruise line smallboat crews. The search was called off at nightfall.
Passenger overboard
April 14 Super Star Virgo
Star Cruises		 The Star/Asia News reports from George Town, Malaysia, that a 49-year-old man went missing while his wife was rescued after they accidentally fell from a cruise ship about 15 nautical miles south of Pulau Kendi. The woman and her husband fell about 20m into the sea at 10am yesterday. Investigatoirs are trying to determine how they fell from the ship, which was from Singapore.
2 passengers overboard - one rescued
March 5 Carnival Splendor
Carnival Cruise Lines		 Cruise Critic reports a 63 year old male passenger was reported missing by his wife while the ship was off the coast of Chile as part of an 18-day South America voyage. The guest’s wife notified shipboard personnel at 9:30 a.m. this morning after she found a note that suggested a planned suicide. The missing guest was last seen at approximately 4:30 a.m. The ship’s command immediately began a vessel-wide search for the individual and returned the vessel back to the area where the guest was last seen. All appropriate authorities were notified. The Carnival Splendor departed Santiago (Valparaiso), Chile, March 3 on an 18-day South America cruise that ends in San Francisco March 21. Passenger overboard
January 16
 Paradise
Carnival Cruise Lines		 An elderly couple (aged 90 and 79) were reported missing, and cruise officials say they likely went overboard before the ship docked in Long Beach. Carnival says the couple's cabin door was double locked from the inside with a "do not disturb" sign on the  handle. The couple's personal belongings remained inside the cabin and the door leading from the cabin to the balcony was unlocked.
 Passengers overboard
January 13
 Pacific Dawn
P&O Australia		 The Sydney Morning Herald reports that a 22 year old man has been rescued after jumping from the ship when it was 20  miles off Vila, Vanuatu at about 5am. The man, who had been in a restricted area, was seen by a staff member who raised the alarm. A life buoy and smoke flares were deployed. He was rescued within 45 minutes. A P&O spokesman said the ship "was travelling at half-speed, about 12 knots, and able to stop and then use the bow thrusters to turn around, without having to do a Williamson manoeuvre [which would have required the ship to complete a circular loop to turn around].''Some reports say the man was drunk following an all night party. Person overboard - rescued
January 1
 Sensation
Carnival Cruise Lines		 The United States Coast Guard received a report that an employee fell overboard approximately 20 miles off the coast of Vero Beach. Friends saw the 26 year old man from California fall around 82 feet below into the water at about 12:50AM, threw him a life ring and notified the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard has launched a helicopter unit to search for the man. The ship's docking in Port Canaveral was delayed until 9:30AM while it participated in the search. Carnival said in a statement that the man, a  singer with a band that had performed on the top deck, was not on duty at the time and that six other crew members saw him fall. He was reportedly trying to take a picture when he went overboard.
 Crew overboard
2008 (10 incidents; 10 persons)
December 26
 Norwegian Pearl
Norwegian Cruise Line		 Searchers from the U.S. Coast Guard joined the hunt Friday for a cruise ship passenger reported missing after employees of the Norwegian Pearl failed to find her. The search was centered about 15 miles east of Cancun, off the northeastern Mexico coast. The husband of 36-year-old Jennifer Feitz told cruise ship personnel about 3:50 a.m. that he couldn't find her. When a thorough search didn't locate her, the Coast Guard got a call for help. "Initial reports indicate the guest may have gone overboard while the ship was at sea, east of Cancun," a spokeswoman for the Miami, Florida-based Norwegian Cruise Line said in a statement. Given her mental health history, media are assuming the disappearance is a suicide.
 Person overboard
December 2
 Pride of Rotterdam
P&O Ferries
 The BBC reports six lifeboats and two search and rescue helicopters are searching the sea off Norfolk for a man believed to have fallen overboard. The alarm was raised just before 0600 GMT by crew on the passenger ferry, which was on its way from the Dutch city to The Humber. The search is concentrating on a 60-mile area of sea from the east of Cromer to The Humber. The missing man is believed to be a ferry crew member.
Crew overboard
November 1
 Magic 1 or Mirage (same ship)
 The Cyprus Mail reports a search and rescue was launched off the west coast of Cyprus yesterday after authorities received reports that a 19 year old female crew member may have fallen overboard from a passing cruise ship. Paphos coastguard together with police and British bases helicopters spent from noon yesterday, when they received the report, until dusk searching the area in international waters some 33 nautical miles off the coast. No trace of the missing woman was found however. According to reports, the woman from Ukraine went missing from her cabin around 3am yesterday but it wasn’t until noon that Cypriot authorities were notified that she might have fallen overboard. A follow up story can be found here.
 Person overboard
October 4
 Ocean Village
Ocean Village Holidays
 Wales News reports A pensioner died after falling overboard while trying to find his relatives. Leighton George Carter was only two days into a cruise around the Adriatic sea when he tumbled from the 14th deck of the ship Ocean Village. Gwent Coroner’s Court in Newport, south Wales, heard the 71-year-old was probably leaning over the guard rail on the deck in an attempt to spot his two granddaughters and their partners on the deck below after they became separated from him and his wife Janet. The ship was docked at Dubrovnik in Croatia at the time of the incident. Although there were no witnesses to the fall, the inquest heard that the retired insulation engineer from the Malpas area of Newport was seen hurrying along the deck, looking agitated. During the fall, Mr Carter struck his head against one of the lifeboats slung on the slide of the ship. Dr Majid Rashid, a pathologist at the city’s Royal Gwent Hospital, carried out a post-mortem examination on Mr Carter’s body after it was repatriated and concluded he died as a result of a fractured skull and spine due to blunt trauma consistent with a fall.
 Fall overboard
May 11
 Norwegian Dawn
Norwegian Cruise Line 		A 46 year old woman was reported to have fallen overboard from the ship at about 7:50 PM on a cruise from New York City to Bermuda. A search was called off because of bad weather. The cruise line asserted that video tapes show she was apparently trying to climb between balconies when she fell overboard near Atlantic City, NJ. Her family believes foul play was likely involved, which has been disputed by the cruise line.
 Person Overboard
April 22
 Carnival Victory
Carnival Cruise Lines		 A 44 year old man was reported missing by his wife. It is believed he fell overboard 40 miles northeast of Cozumel. A rescue crew from Clearwater's (Florida) Coast Guard Station are helping in the search. While the FBI says there was no foul play, family members disagree saying that man was not suicidal. He was apparently last seen in the ship's casino.
 Person missing
March 9
 Costa Mediterranea
Costa Crociere		 A 39-year-old woman who became angry with her boyfriend reportedly jumped off the ship early Sunday, prompting a search for her in the Florida Keys. The unnamed woman jumped overboard about 20 miles southeast of Key Largo about 1:18 AM.
Person overboard
February 18
 Constellation
Celebrity Cruises		 A 28 year old Chnese crew member went missing as the ship approached Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale). He had last been seen at 5AM and then did not show up for morning muster an hour later at 6AM. A search of the ship was undertaken but was unsuccessful. The Coast Guard wasnotified of the disappearance at 1:40PM.
 Person missing
February 1
 Carnival Glory
Carnival Cruise Lines		 NBC6 in Miami and Coast Guard News report that a 46 year old Indian crew member failed to show up for work at 6:30 AM and is presumed missing at sea. The crew searched the ship and reviewed security tapes before notifying the Coast Guard around 12:30 PM. The COast Guard search was unsuccessful. The ship was en route to Nassau, the last stop on a seven day cruise embarking at Port Canaveral and that included Belize City and Cozumel. Person missing
January 15 Windstar Cruises The company reported to the FBI that a non-US national crew member jumped off the ship while it was off the coast of Costa Rica. Person overboard

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Compiled by Ross A. Klein, PhD, Professor, Memorial University of Newfoundland