(StraightNews.org) – A passenger has died after jumping off a ship near Florida. The Icon of the Seas, the world’s largest cruise vessel, departed from the Floridian coast on the morning of May 26 with more than 7,600 passengers and 2,350 crew members on board. Around 300 miles into the journey, a man jumped overboard, prompting a frantic rescue mission using the ship’s lifeboats. Rescuers managed to locate the passenger, who was still alive, and brought him back onboard the enormous cruiser, but he subsequently died from injuries.
Witnesses described the shock on board and the celebrations as news spread that rescue efforts were reportedly successful. “Everyone in the dining room clapped,” a passenger told reporters. However, staff later informed fellow travelers that the jumper had died. The ship continued its journey around the Gulf of Mexico, Honduras, and Costa Maya.
The incident was the second time in months that a person reportedly jumped or fell from a major cruise ship. Last October, a passenger went overboard from the Symphony of the Seas as it set out on its voyage from Barcelona, Spain. On that occasion, the fallen guest was also located by rescuers and was fortunate enough to survive the fall.
Months earlier, in June, a guest plunged into the sea from the 10th deck of the Mariner of the Seas near the Dominican Republic. The Royal Caribbean cruise ship was en route from Port Canaveral, Florida, to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, when the incident occurred. The woman was rescued and taken to a hospital in Curacao, and the vessel continued its journey.
According to Cruise Lines International Association data, 212 people fell or jumped from cruise ships between 2009 and 2019. Most incidents end in death, and of the 212, just 48 people survived. One of last year’s fatalities involved a 35-year-old man on the Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas who was missing for four days when rescue efforts were called off.
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