A 36-year-old woman fell overboard from a cruise ship was recovered on Thursday morning, December 15 off the coast of Florida.
The woman had somehow plunged into the water from the MSC Meraviglia Cruise Ship which was on its way back from Ocean Cay, an island in the Bahamas.
The US Coast Guard found the unidentified woman’s remains about 18 miles from Port Canaveral, Florida.
Passengers on the ship were woken up at around 5am by alarms on the last day of the cruise, and informed that a passenger had fallen overboard. They were advised to stay in their cabins so that the Coast Guard could search the boat and the cruise crew could take inventory of passengers on the ship.
A large rescue vessel and a helicopter assisted in the search and rescue as the ship’s crew did a head count on the boat.
Field Sutton, the Communications Director of MSC Cruises, released a statement from the cruise company early Thursday morning that the ship’s advanced detection system alerted the crew that a passenger had fallen overboard. He said the crew immediately conducted a search and rescue operation in cooperation with the US Coast Guard.
The unfortunate woman passenger was found with fatal injuries despite the medics’ attempts to save her. Sutton said that the Cruise Ship Company cooperated with authorities as they conducted their investigation and offered condolences to the victim’s family.
Because of the unplanned incident, passengers were delayed getting off the cruise ship and some people became inpatient. A fight broke out when the passengers were temporarily prevented from disembarking at their final destination at Port Canaveral in Florida. US Customs and Border Protection arrested some passengers that were involved in the commotion.
On Thanksgiving Day, a man fell overboard, accidentally, on another cruise.
James Michael Grimes, 28, had been having a fun time on a five-day Thanksgiving cruise with his family members, including his parents and sister. The cruise ship was heading to Cozumel, Mexico.
The 28-year-old man had spent most of the day drinking and drunk before he fell overboard. Although an area search was begun after the boat was searched, he spent over 20 hours in the freezing ocean before being miraculously rescued.
According to Grimes, he accidentally fell overboard, and was knocked unconscious. He woke up in the freezing cold water. He claimed that he had fought a shark off while he was in the water.
Grimes told reporters that he was swimming in one direction when he saw what he thought was a shark coming at him. The shark-like creature bumped one of his legs, but he kicked it with the other.
Grimes met a better fate than the woman from Florida, and is happy to have a story to tell.
