Rescue teams called off the search on Sunday for a young British man who fell from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship off the coast of Croatia early Friday.
The passenger, whose identity has not been released, fell into the Adriatic Sea while sailing on the cruise line Explorer of the Seas in the early hours of the morning, local Croatian media reported.
According to local news stations, the man fell about 100 feet from the boat into the sea near the uninhabited island of Jabuka. 24 SATA reported.
Royal Caribbean crew members who saw the man fall quickly threw him a lifebuoy, but did not see him in the water, the agency said.
A massive multi-agency search was launched by both sea and air, spearheaded by the National Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre, and continued over the weekend.
Rescuers hoped that if the Briton survived the fall he would be able to survive in the warm waters of the Adriatic at this time of year.
“Survival in these conditions takes more than 12 hours and the search will take twice that – at least 24 hours,” search and rescue agency coordinator Radovan Rinjic told 24 SATA in Croatian.
But after three days of searching, rescuers had not been able to find the missing man and formally called off the search at around 2pm on Sunday, Croatian news agencies reported. HRT reported.
The man fell overboard on a seven-day Royal Caribbean cruise ship en route from Greece to Zadar.
Another passenger on the cruise ship said he was woken up at about 3:40 a.m. by an emergency message saying: “Oscar, Oscar, Oscar off the port side. Person falling.” Share with X.
Nicole Block wrote that the ship called off its port call at Zadar, but after several hours of searching, the Croatian Coast Guard immediately took over the search and continued on its way.
The Washington Post has reached out to Royal Caribbean for comment.
In May, shortly after the world’s largest cruise ship, Royal Caliber Cruise Line’s Icon of the Seas, departed Florida, a man was reported to have jumped overboard on the first night of a week-long voyage. His body was later recovered and he was pronounced dead.
A month earlier, a 20-year-old man, believed to be intoxicated, was suspected of jumping from the Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas while on holiday with his family between Cuba and the Bahamas.
