Man overboard

There seem to have been an increasing number of reports of cruise ship incidents this year of passengers and crew falling overboard, more sad news that a Sunderland dancer Arron Hough, 20 reportedly went overboard on Christmas Day from Royal Caribbean Harmony Of The Seas while the cruise ship was sailing some 267 miles off the coast of Puerto Rico.

The Coast Guard has suspended the search for a missing cruise ship entertainer after rescue crews covered more than 3,700 square miles and searched for a combined total of 83 hours

The vanishing passengers: It’s a mystery as bizarre as it is disturbing – why have 165 people gone missing from cruise ships in recent years?

According to the U.S.-based International Cruise Victims Association, 165 people have gone missing at sea since 1995, with at least 16 reports issued this year with incidents of passengers and crew, many of them from vessels popular with British holidaymakers.

Are they the victims of a sinister crime wave? Have they had a mishap at sea and fallen overboard, or perhaps chosen to take their own lives? Is the idea of someone ‘slipping overboard’ credible? The rails on cruise ships are at least 3ft 6in high, which makes it incredibly difficult for anyone — even someone who might be drunk or ill — to fall overboard

The most high profile was in July when British woman Kay Longstaff was pulled from the Adriatic sea when she fell off the back deck of the Norwegian Star cruise ship and spent ten hours in the water. Before being taken to hospital, she told reporters she felt very lucky to have been found by the ‘wonderful guys’ from the Croatian coastguard – she was very lucky to survive largely due to warm sea temperatures

In November Thomas McElhany, 26, was reported missing from the Carnival Victory early Friday morning near the Florida Keys during the ship’s voyage back to PortMiami, according to a statement from the Coast Guard.

The Adventure of the Seas was in Cozumel in November when the captain made an announcement that an unidentified crew member could not be accounted for and was missing from the cruise ship.  The crew member did not appear at his work station and the remainder of the crew was unable to locate him

Just how can a person member  “disappear” without a trace from the cruise ship??

MSC were the first to install an automatic man overboard detection system  Auto-MOB systems an detect a person going over the rails and send a signal to the bridge so that the ship can immediately search and try to rescue the person. Such systems consist of state-of-the-art motion detection sensors, thermal imaging and radar technology.

As soon as an incident happens, cruise ship crew will activate a button that pinpoints the place where the person went into the water. CCTV images are searched for any clues, the ship will then stop and turn back to that area. The ship and its crew will perform a lengthy search and rescue operation, lasting several hours. The captain will notify other ships in the area, which are obligated to help, as well as the closest local maritime authority and Coastguard

I hope you never hear Oscar oscar oscar on your cruise !