At least 9 people went overboard off cruise ships this year. Here's what happened to them.

04.11.2023 - 15:13 / insider.com / Royal Caribbean / Cruise Line / This Year / Cruises

The chances of you falling overboard off a cruise ship are extremely low.

But at least nine people fell off major cruise line ships so far this year, turning fun-in-the-sun vacations into disaster situations — and only two survived the fall into the ocean.

Here's what happened to the passengers who went overboard:

The family of 35-year-old Australian cruise passenger Warwick Tollemache told Nine News he was a "kind, beautiful, and gentle soul who was adored by everyone who knew him."

Tollemache fell into the Pacific Ocean after going overboard off Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas on April 26 at about 11 p.m. while the cruise ship was hundreds of miles off the coast of Hawaii.

The ship's crew immediately launched a search for Tollemache and the United States Coast Guard was ultimately called in to help. The Coast Guard called off its search after crew scoured the waters for two days.

Authorities didn't say how he fell in.

Virginia resident Ronnie Lee Peale Jr., 35, was on a Carnival Magic cruise to celebrate his partner's birthday when he fell into the water on May 29 after officials say he leaned over a balcony railing on the vessel.

Peale Jr. went overboard as the ship was about 186 miles east of Jacksonville, Florida, and returning from the Bahamas. Carnival Cruise Line said security footage showed he "leaned over the railing of his stateroom balcony and dropped into the water" at about 4:10 am.

The Coast Guard searched over 5,171 square miles and more than 60 hours, but crews could not find Peale Jr.

"He loved the cruise life," Peale Jr.'s fiancée Jennilyn Michelle Blosser told WTKR. "Being able to drink, gamble, and socialize put him in his happy place."

Some who fall in are lucky to be alive.

A 42-year-old US citizen — whose name wasn't publicly revealed — fell overboard from the 10th deck of Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas vessel on June 25 at around 5:45 p.m. as the Curaçao-bound liner was more than 30 miles off the coast of the Dominican Republic.

The woman miraculously survived the fall. One witness told Insider that passengers lined up on their balconies and quickly banded together to try and guide the rescue boat as it scanned the water for signs of the woman.

Witnesses said cruise crew members managed to find her and brought her safely back on board in a roughly 45-minute ordeal.

The overboard woman was found to be in "good health" after the fall, the Coast Guard said. A rescue expert told Insider her survival was "nothing short of miraculous."

Carnival Elation passenger Jaylen Hill, 30, went overboard on the vessel on July 23 as the ship was on a four-day Bahamas sailing and on its way back to Jacksonville, Florida.

Hill's travel companion reported him missing after he wasn't