Man falls overboard from cruise ship simply hours after one other tragedy

Need to know

A man in his 70s fell overboard from the Carnival Splendor off the coast of Australia, triggering a huge search operation just hours after a woman died snorkelling

Need to know: Man Falls Overboard Hours After Passenger Dies Snorkelling

• A man in his 70s has fallen overboard from the Carnival Splendor cruise ship off the Australian coast, just hours after another passenger died during a snorkelling excursion.
• CCTV footage appears to show the pensioner scaling a safety barrier before plunging into the sea around 30km from Moreton Island. His family members raised the alarm when they discovered he was missing.
• Despite a desperate search involving planes and boats, the man was not found. A spokesperson for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said: “Following an intensive air and sea search involving multiple assets, the missing person was not located and AMSA has now released all assets from tasking.”
• The tragedy came just hours after a 67-year-old Australian woman from Tasmania died while snorkelling on Friday morning. The woman was found unresponsive in the water, though there’s no suggestion the two incidents are connected.
• Carnival Cruises said all authorities had been notified and they would fully cooperate with investigations. The cruise line’s Care Team is supporting both families affected by the tragedies.
• Cruise ship falls are incredibly dangerous, with only one in four people estimated to survive such incidents. Out of tens of millions of cruise passengers yearly, there are usually around 25-30 overboard incidents.
• Last year, a 78-year-old Brit also lost his life falling from a cruise ship while visiting the Canary Islands.
• READ THE FULL STORY: Cruise ship passenger ‘jumps overboard’ just hours after woman dies on same ship