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Coast Guard searching for cruise ship crew member believed to have gone overboard near Puerto Rico, the second such incident within 48 hours

Erin Snodgrass   

Coast Guard searching for cruise ship crew member believed to have gone overboard near Puerto Rico, the second such incident within 48 hours
  • An MSC Cruise crew member is missing and believed to have gone overboard a ship on Tuesday.
  • The Coast Guard is searching the waters near Puerto Rico for the 30-year-old man.

The Coast Guard is searching for a missing crew member believed to have gone overboard an MSC cruise ship on Tuesday evening.

Officials are looking for a 30-year-old man of Indian nationality in waters north of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, the Coast Guard said in a Wednesday press release.

The missing MSC Seascape crew member was reportedly observed going overboard the ship from a height of about 32 feet above the water, according to the Coast Guard. The press release did not clarify if the man was seen by witnesses or security footage.

He was wearing a white shirt and red shorts when he went into the water, the press release said.

The Coast Guard said it received an initial notification of the overboard incident around 9 p.m. Tuesday as the Seascape was making its way from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.

The Seascape ship reported throwing a lifeline and three life rings into the water, as well as launching a cruise ship rescue boat to search the nearby waters, according to the Coast Guard.

MSC Cruises did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

The Coast Guard diverted to the scene an MH-60T Jayhawk helicopter and deployed a self-locating marker buoy that measures sea currents, as well as a full aircrew on site, according to the agency.

The Seascape eventually left the scene and continued on its voyage to the Dominican Republic, the Coast Guard said.

Cody Alcorn, a local journalist with Atlanta outlet 11Alive obtained video of the search efforts from Tuesday night taken from the Seascape. The footage appears to show a giant light shining into the water as crews search the dark ocean.

The incident is the second man-overboard event in less than 48 hours after a passenger on a Carnival cruise ship was caught on surveillance footage appearing to jump from the ship's deck early Monday morning, the cruise line said.

Tyler Barnett, 28, was first reported missing from the Carnival Glory on Monday morning just one day into a weeklong cruise to Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands and Cozumel, Mexico.

But Barnett's mother, Elisha Reid, told Business Insider on Wednesday that the family had seen the footage and believes it shows Barnett didn't jump, but slipped.

All cruise ships are required to have 42-inch guard rails and man-overboard imaging under the 2010 Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act. But many ships have yet to implement newer technology that automatically detects when a person goes overboard by using thermal cameras and radars that promptly alert crew members, Business Insider previously reported.

The time between someone going overboard and the cruise ship launching a search-and-rescue mission can often be the difference between life and death.

While the chances of falling overboard a cruise ship are extremely rare, at least 10 people have fallen off major cruise line ships in 2023 so far — and only two have survived their plunge into the ocean.



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