A man has jumped overboard from an MSC cruise ship as it traveled from Europe to South America.
The cruise line confirmed that it was “intentionally” done, while local authorities concluded there were no reasons to suspect foul play.
The 40-year-old man was reported missing from MSC Armonia at around 9 a.m. last Wednesday. The ship conducted standard protocols after the report, including paging the missing person through the public address system. After reviewing onboard security cameras, the crew discovered that the man had jumped overboard at about 5 am that day.
| According to Business Insider, MSC Cruises “confirmed that the passenger intentionally jumped overboard.” The ship proceeded to Recife, Brazil, as scheduled, where local authorities found “no suspicious circumstances and there was no case to be pursued.” |
Few details are known about the man who jumped. All we know at this point is he was a North American tourist traveling with his partner.
The man’s companion was briefly questioned but was later released and cleared to travel, although he opted to fly home rather than continue with the sailing.
15th man overboard incident in 2023
Sadly, the latest man overboard incident is the 15th this year for cruise ships and the second month in a row for MSC Cruises.
Last month, an MSC crew member fell overboard while the MSC Seascape was off the coast of Puerto Rico. The Indian national was never found, and the search was called off two days after he went overboard.
A Professor named Ross Klein in Halifax is keeping a record of man-overboard incidents that occur on cruise ships and passenger ferries.
He has a website, CruiseJunkie.com, that reports the latest incident is the 399th one since 1995.
According to his records, the top three cruise lines that have had the most incidents are Carnival Cruise Line with 81, Royal Caribbean with 61, and MSC Cruises with 30.
RELATED: Man Overboard on a Cruise Ship: What Happens Next?
