I am always sad to report bad news especially about any crew member who goes overboard from any ship. This was from the Harmony of the Seas Boxing day morning, according to a Royal Caribbean ship employee.
The crew member is reportedly an entertainer from the U.K. who was a member of the shipboard musical production of Grease on the Harmony of the Seas. The Harmony of the Seas left Fort Lauderdale, Florida on December 23rd and was sailing to Philipsburg, St. Maarten. The crew member apparently went overboard early Christmas morning some where north of Puerto Rico before the cruise ship reached St. Maarten.
The Coast Guard identified the missing crew member as “Arron Hough, aged 20, from the United Kingdom.”
Mr. Hough apparently disappeared without anyone noticing. There is an absence of a auto man overboard system on most cruise ships, this system would instantly send a signal to the bridge and then track the overboard person in the water even at night, there was apparently no timely search for the crew member as nobody was aware of their absence.
According to cruise expert Professor Ross Klein, 327 people have gone overboard from cruise ships since 2000. 25 people have gone overboard this year alone – an average of more than 2 a month. This is a staggering figure even to me. I have worked on 4 ships and some crew just can’t face another day working at sea. Some sneak off at a port (jump ship) without losing their lives. For others they cannot see any other way out than jumping overboard.
According to the Miami Herald, the Coast Guard was not notified until 1:45 pm today, even though the crew member apparently went overboard around 4 am.
Royal Caribbean have written “We are saddened to report that after a review of the ship’s closed-circuit camera footage, he was observed entering an area on Deck 5 at around 4 am and was not seen again. Local authorities were notified and a ship-wide search for the crew member was conducted. My thoughts go out to his family, friends and the people left on the ship who will miss their friend and colleague.