The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended the search for a man believed to have gone overboard from Princess Cruises' Ruby Princess.
The 72-year-old American man is thought to have fallen off the ship before it arrived in San Francisco on Monday, December 2, following a 5-night cruise to Ensenada, Mexico. The vessel arrived around 6:50am.
According to a statement by the cruise line, officials searched the ship and sourced security videos. However, the passenger, who was traveling alone, was not located.
“Having ruled out other possibilities, this is being treated as a man overboard incident,” Princess Cruises said.
The Associated Press reported that the Coast Guard initiated aerial searches on Monday afternoon, focusing on the Pacific Ocean approximately 45 miles (72 kilometers) off the coast of Monterey, California. However, efforts were called off around 5:30pm, Coast Guard Petty Officer Loumania Steward confirmed in an email Tuesday morning.
ABC News disclosed additional details about the search from Steward, adding that the first aircrew was dispatched from Sacramento aboard a C-27 aircraft at about 3 p.m. Another crew departed from San Francisco at about 4:00pm.
The remaining guests disembarked the ship as scheduled on Dec. 2, and the 3,080-passenger vessel departed on a 16-night sailing to Hawaii the same evening, Princess confirmed to PEOPLE.
18 people have been reported to have gone overboard in 2024
The first incident occurred in January when a man died after falling off the Irish ferry Stena Estrid. The 44-year-old man had been successfully rescued and airlifted to a hospital. However, he eventually succumbed to his injuries.
Other notable incidents followed throughout the year. In February, a passenger sailing aboard MSC World Europa died after falling into the harbor while the mega-ship was docked in Valetta, Malta. Six more overboard accidents happened between March and May on vessels as small as Ambassador Cruise Line's Ambience and as large as Icon of the Seas.
Perhaps the most shocking happened in August aboard Norwegian Spirit, where a passenger video captured the horrifying moment when a man went overboard. Passenger Kenji Lao Wang was filming his family when the man entered the upper left corner of the video frame and fell towards the sea.
Read more: MSC crew member goes overboard on cruise ship
Data from the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) reveals individuals who go overboard are unlikely to be rescued
In March 2020, the CLIA released a Report on Operational Incidents from 2009 to 2019, revealing that out of the 212 overboard incidents, only 48 people (or 28.2%) were successfully rescued. Moreover, most overboard incidents were from passengers. Only 33% of reported incidents involved crew members.
After someone goes overboard, thorough investigations are conducted to determine the cause and/or motive. The CLIA reported that in every case from 2009 to 2019 where the cause was established, it was found to be a reckless or intentional act.
Ruby Princess in the headlines
Throughout the past four years, Ruby Princess has been in the news a handful of times. She may be the most well-known for her role during the COVID-19 pandemic, where, after a 13-night cruise departed from Sydney, Australia, on March 8, 2020, over 600 tested positive for the virus and an additional 28 died.
The outbreak aboard the Ruby Princess became one of the largest COVID-19 clusters linked to a cruise ship, drawing widespread media attention and public scrutiny. In October 2023, Carnival was ruled negligent in its care of duty to passengers in an Australia class-action case.
Also in 2023, it was reported that Ruby Princess made "unexpected contact" with the Port of San Fransico's Pier 27, making a "hard landing" while docking after finishing a 10-night Alaskan cruise, puncturing the ship's aft hull. As a result, the following voyage was delayed by 3 days to allow ample time to complete the repairs.
Elizabeth Wright
Elizabeth graduated from New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute with her M.A. in Journalism in May 2023. Growing up, she had the privilege of traveling frequently with her family and fell in love with cruising after sailing on the Oasis of the Seas her freshman year of high school. She wanted to pursue a career that highlighted her passion for travel and strengths as a writer.
