Unlike the 35-year-old passenger on a Carnival cruise last month who fell overboard and was never found, a 42-year-old woman who fell off a Royal Caribbean cruise ship on Sunday went missing — but was eventually rescued.
The entire ordeal took about 45 minutes, in which passengers were on their balconies with binoculars, helping with the search. The cruise ship had been traveling south of Dominican Republic, on its way to Curacao, when the woman fell around 5:45pm from the 10th deck of the ship. For a "brief time" the mood on the ship was "very somber," according to Fox35 Orlando, but once the traveler was found, passengers cheered with relief.
"After we saw the life rafts or the life preservers and the smoke – I was like, someone just died," said Matthew Kuhn who's on the cruise with his family. …
"I think it was amazing to see everyone was on their balcony. Everyone was trying to help, and the crew was very receptive to everyone," he added.
Boats searched the seas and ended up finding the missing person still alive who the U.S. Coast Guard identified as a 42-year-old U.S. citizen. The Coast Guard shared a statement on the rescue with FOX 35.
"To go from, 'She's probably not going to be found,' – and… it's a body recovery, versus 'Holy crap, they found her, and she's alive!," Kuhn added.
Royal Caribbean tells FOX 35 in a statement, "The ship and crew immediately reported the incident to local authorities and began searching for the guest. Thankfully, the guest was successfully recovered and was brought on board. Our care team is now offering assistance and support to them and their traveling party."
Around 19 people go overboard from cruise ships a year, according to MarketWatch, and only 25% or less are found alive.
