'Drunk' 20-year-old man missing after jumping off a Royal Caribbean cruise ship

06.04.2024 - 15:45 / insider.com / Royal Caribbean

A 20-year-old man jumped off the Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas cruise on Thursday morning while vacationing with his family.

The passenger, whose identity has not been revealed, jumped overboard at about 4 a.m. and has been missing since.

Passengers on the Liberty of the Seas ship described the tragedy as a "spur-of-the-moment decision."

Passenger Bryan Sims told the New York Post that the missing passenger was "pretty drunk" and that they had hung out in the hot tub until 3:30 a.m.

Sims said that when they left the hot tub, they encountered the drunk passenger's father while approaching the elevators.

"His dad was fussing at him for being drunk," said Sims.

The unidentified passenger reportedly told his father, "I'll fix this right now," and jumped out of the window.

Fellow passengers said his father and brother witnessed the "impulsive" leap.

Deborah Morrison, another passenger on board the cruise, told the Post that "there was a lot of yelling and that the crew was alerted immediately."

Related stories

Royal Caribbean told the Post, "The ship's crew immediately launched a search and rescue effort alongside the US Coast Guard, who has taken over the search."

US Coast Guard District Seven said USCG Cutter Seneca and Air Station Miami HC-144 crews were conducting the search.

#Breaking @USCG crews are searching for a 20-year-old man who went overboard from the Liberty of the Seas cruise ship 57 miles from Great Inagua this morning.

USCG Cutter Seneca and Air Station Miami HC-144 crews are conducting the search.#USCG #SAR pic.twitter.com/zZPpKOdyCn

The Liberty of the Seas departed from South Florida and was 57 miles from Great Inagua in The Bahamas when the passenger jumped overboard.

The cruise ship has 18 decks and can accommodate 3,634 passengers, served by a crew of about 1,300.

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

In 2023, About 31 million passengers traveled on a cruise, and about 10 people went overboard, of which two miraculously survived, Business Insider reported .

"Even one incident is one too many," CLIA told Business Insider, explaining that "the vast majority of cases are either reckless behavior or some form of intentional act. People don't just inadvertently fall over the side of a ship."

Last month, a 23-year-old man who felt seasick fell overboard from the MSC Euribia cruise ship while crossing the North Sea in Europe and was presumed dead.

In December, an MSC Cruises passenger jumped from one of its ships while sailing from Europe to South America.

According to a Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) report, only 28.2% of passengers who fell overboard from 2009 to 2019 were successfully rescued.

Business Insider contacted