Royal Caribbean passenger goes overboard on trip to Hawaii

A Royal Caribbean cruise ship passenger is missing after he went overboard Tuesday night during a trip from Australia to Hawaii.

The passenger, from Australia, plunged into the waters from the Quantum of the Seas ship as it was cruising towards Honolulu, according to the cruise line and reports.

“While on its trans-Pacific sailing, a guest onboard Quantum of the Seas went overboard,” a Royal Caribbean spokesperson said in a statement to several publications. “The ship’s crew immediately launched a search and rescue operation and is working closely with local authorities.”

The ship left Brisbane on April 12 and was expected to reach Honolulu’s port on Friday before the passenger went missing.

The US Navy and Coast Guard were called in to assist in a search-and-rescue mission for the Australia national.

A spokesperson for the Coast Guard told CBS News that their crew conducted five searches for the missing man over the course of about six hours, but he was not found.

The spokesperson said they got the call at around 11 p.m. Hawaii-Aleutian standard time Tuesday.

A man whose family was aboard the ship said they told him that the missing passenger’s partner had died just moments before he went overboard.

The man named Mark called in to Sydney’s radio station during “Ben Fordham Live” and said his stepson was working as a dancer on the boat and his daughter and wife were also aboard the Quantum of the Seas cruise when the man went over the ship’s side, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

“There was an announcement that there was a medical emergency and that a person had passed away, which does happen from time to time,” Mark said. “But an hour and a half later, they got the call-out that somebody had gone overboard, and it turned out to be the partner of the person that passed away.”

Another passenger said there was a somber mood over the cruise ship, while staffers remained tight-lipped.

“We are being told nothing,” Ken Carcas told the publication. “Senior staff are keeping quiet, at this stage; it is very somber on the boat.”