Norwegian Cruise ship ‘man overboard’ sparks frantic search as horrified passengers watch chaos unfold
A search has been launched for a cruise ship passenger who is believed to have gone overboard while enroute to the Bahamas.
The Norwegian Epic reported an individual had entered the water around 3pm ET as the ship was sailing northbound from Ocho Rios, Jamaica, as it cruised toward Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas, Cruise Hive reported.
The ship departed Port Canaveral, Florida, on Saturday and is currently on a seven-night Western Caribbean voyage.
Passengers on board have appeared to confirm the unfolding situation, filming the water and sharing the little information they have.
In one video, a passenger could be heard saying the individual believed to be missing is a child.
Another passenger who shared a video of the ship circling around as it conducted a search said ‘a guy jumped off the boat.’
Another cruise ship that happened to be nearby was steaming toward the location to try to help in the rescue.
The identity of the person who went overboard hasn’t been revealed, though initial reports indicate that it was a guest and not a crew member.
Search and rescue operations were said to have been initiated promptly, with crew members throwing a flare in the water to mark the ship’s position when the ‘man overboard’ was reported.
Pictured: The Norwegian Epic cruise ship, the vessel that reportedly had a passenger go over board on Thursday
Passengers were seen looking out at the open ocean as the search for the missing guest continued
The boat was seen circling the area where flares were shot to mark the position of the ship when a man overboard was first reported
DailyMail.com reached out to Norwegian to confirm these details and obtain an update.
Cruise Hive reported that onboard announcements told passengers that the individual who went overboard was wearing a blue shirt at the time of their fall.
The outlet added that Holland America Line’s Zuiderdam was the ship seen racing toward the Norwegian ship in one of the videos.
The Zuiderdam’s home port is Port Everglades and is in the midst of a 7-night Caribbean itinerary as well, with Thursday being a day at sea.
Sunset in the Bahamas Thursday was at 5:18pm, which would have left rescuers only a few hours of sunlight to rescue to the victim.
In the first video, which was posted to X at 3:35pm, a woman behind the camera showed the ship circling around a red patch of water said to be the deployed flare.
‘They put a flare, they’re circulating. We did an entire circle looking for the guy that jumped off the boat. He jumped, he fell and bounced off of one of these [lifeboats] and fell in the water,’ she said.
In the other video, posted to TikTok around 5pm, the woman filming zoomed in to show what presumably was the Zuiderdam rushing to the Norwegian ship.
