passengers missing from cruise ships

• Disappearances from Cruise Ships
• Movies That Make You Scared to Go in the Water
• People Who Fell Off Cruise Ships
• Cruises Ruined by Brutal Crimes
• If You Fall Off a Cruise Ship
• Mysterious Messages In Bottles
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People Who Mysteriously Vanished From Cruise Ships

Cruises are supposed to be happy, carefree moments of maritime bliss; what could go wrong on a vacation on the sea? In reality, there has been a shocking number of cruise ship disappearances , and over 165 people have gone missing since 1995. Cruise ships traverse the vast oceans and often maintain entertainment options into the wee hours of the night, and there's certainly no shortage of libations flowing for those on board. Some passengers have fallen overboard , while other guests have disappeared via more mysterious means.

Investigations into such disappearances can often be inconclusive, as missing passengers are frequently never found. And while security footage can sometimes provide clues, some videos have produced more questions than they have answered. For that reason, the families of many cruise ship victims have written about their tragic experiences in an attempt to increase awareness about cruise ship safety. 

A Mysterious Photo Might Point To What Happened To Amy Lynn Bradley

The disappearance of Amy Lynn Bradley is a very bizarre story. Bradley was a 23-year-old woman from Virginia who went missing while on a Royal Caribbean International cruise with her family in March 1998. On the evening she disappeared, Bradley was at a club on the ship. She shared a drink with members of the house band after their set, then went off on her own at about 1 a.m., according to one of the bandmates . Bradley was later spotted by her father at about 5:30 a.m., and he said she was asleep on the balcony of their cabin. But by 6 a.m., Bradley had vanished. At the time of her disappearance, the ship had been headed from Aruba to Curaçao, Antilles. The ship docked as the search for Bradley began. A pair of tourists claimed to have seen Bradley in Curaçao, saying they recognized her tattoos, yet Bradley remained missing. 

In 1999, a Navy man claimed to have encountered her in a brothel. He said she told him her name and asked for help, saying she was being held captive there. In 2005, someone said they saw Bradley in Barbados. On an episode of Dr. Phil , Bradley's parents said they had been sent a photo of a woman that could have been Bradley via an anonymous sender. In the photo, the woman is scantily dressed, which adds fuel to the theory that Bradley was kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery. 

Rebecca Coriam Was A Disney Cruise Employee Who Vanished At Sea

Rebecca Coriam , 24, was an employee on the Disney Wonder cruise ship. She disappeared on May 22, 2011, as the ship was sailing off the coast of Mexico. She was spotted on surveillance video talking on one of the ship’s internal phones and appeared upset. Another passenger approached her and asked her if she was okay, to which she appeared to say yes. She then hung up and walked away. 

The most common theories are that she was swept overboard while at the crew pool or that she jumped or fell from Deck 5. Yet no theory is particularly compelling, and what truly happened remains a mystery. Others say she was in a turbulent relationship and could have been upset, yet her family states that she would have never willingly gone overboard. Even authorities clash over what really happened to Rebecca Coriam, with some stating it was a simple, yet tragic case of someone slipping overboard and others alleging foul play .

George Allen Smith IV Disappeared On His Honeymoon

George Smith disappeared from the MS Brilliance of the Seas in July 2005. He and his new bride, Jennifer, were on a two-week Mediterranean honeymoon cruise and were headed from Greece to Turkey. It is believed that Smith went overboard, but how that happened is a mystery.

The Smiths had dinner before engaging in a long night of drinking. Both were reported to have been very drunk. The Smiths' on-ship neighbor said he later heard loud talking, an argument, and a thud coming from the Smiths' cabin. Blood was later found on the canopy beneath the cabin, indicating that Smith had fallen or had been pushed. Jennifer was not with Smith when he went missing. She had wandered off elsewhere and passed out in a hallway. She was woken up and led back to her cabin by crew members in the morning, where neither she nor the crew members noticed anything amiss. Jennifer slept three hours before heading to a massage appointment.

She claims to not remember much of the night prior, and to this day, no one admits to knowing what happened to Smith. Some believe he was shoved overboard by men he encountered at the casino, while others believe, in his state of intoxication, he became disoriented and fell.

Fariba Amani Disappeared While On A Cruise With Her Boyfriend

Fariba Amani , a 47-year-old Vancouver, Canada, woman, vanished in February 2012. She was on a Bahamas Celebration cruise with her boyfriend of eight months at the time, 46-year-old Ramiz Golshani. 

Golshani said he last saw Amani at the ship's gift shop at about 1 a.m. before heading to the casino alone. When he returned to their cabin, she was not there, and he went to sleep. In the morning, at about 7 a.m., he awoke and looked for her. After an hour, he told the ship's crew that he could not locate his companion. They, too, searched for Amani, but she was never seen again.

Amani’s sister said that her sister's relationship was troubled and that Amani even once considered hiring a private investigator to see if Golshani was cheating on her. However, there is no concrete evidence to suggest foul play was involved in Golshani's disappearance, and what truly happened to her remains a mystery. 

Russel Terence Rebello Died A Hero

Russel Terence Rebello , 33, died a hero. He was a crew member aboard the Costa Concordia , which smashed into a reef and capsized in January of 2012 off Giglio Island, Italy. A total of 32 people were killed in the wreck, and Rebello stayed aboard to help other passengers get off, giving one of them his lifejacket. 

For months, it was not clear what happened to Rebello. The grim conclusion to the mystery came three years later when Rebello's body was found, still on the ship.

Annette Mizener Won A Cruise, Then Disappeared

Annette Mizener , 37, won a Carnival cruise to the Mexican Riviera in December 2004. She took her parents and her teenage daughter along for the trip. 

On the night of her disappearance, she sang karaoke with her daughter, then hit the casino. Her parents quickly became concerned when Mizener did not show up to play Bingo with them as scheduled later that evening. 

Mizener's purse was discovered on one of the ship's lower decks, near a railing, leading many to believe she somehow fell or was pushed overboard. Yet an extensive search conducted by the Coast Guard and the Navy failed to find any trace of Mizener, and the FBI's investigation was inconclusive. The only camera that might have caught what happened was blocked by a map of the ship.

Merrian Carver Disappeared On An Alaskan Cruise

Merrian Carver, 40, disappeared from a Celebrity Cruises ship in August 2004. 

Carver had gone on the trip alone and disappeared on only the second day of a seven-day Alaskan tour. Though one of the crew members reported that Carver seemed to be missing, the ship failed to respond. When they found Carver's belongings still in her cabin after the cruise had ended, they simply donated them to charity. They never reported her disappearance to police. It was Carver's family who filed a missing persons report after not hearing from her for days. They were not even aware at the time of the filing that Carver had gone on a cruise. 

Royal Caribbean, who owns Celebrity Cruises, ruled the disappearance a suicide, but without a proper investigation, Carver's family will never know. 

Hue Pham And Hue Tran Vanished While Celebrating Their 50th Anniversary

Hue Pham, 70, and Hue Tran, 65, went missing while on a Carnival Cruise ship heading from Barbados to Aruba in May 2005. The couple had gone on the cruise to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. They were traveling with their daughter and granddaughter. 

The couple vanished from the ship, leaving behind only their shoes as a clue, which were found on the ship's deck. Though some have speculated the couple committed suicide, their son , Michael Pham, doesn't buy it. He said they were happy and had been planning a trip to Vietnam to see relatives. 

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Micki Kanesaki Was Allegedly Murdered By Her Ex

A convoluted case surrounded the alleged murder of Micki Kanesaki , 52, who disappeared from a Mediterranean cruise in 2006. Kanesaki went on the cruise with her ex-husband, California lawyer Lonnie Kocontes, 48. At about 1 a.m., ship officials say she left her cabin to fetch a cup of tea. Her ex later woke up to find her missing. 

Kanesaki's body was discovered days later on the shores of Calabria. Kocontes indicated that Kanesaki, who had been his second wife, may have been suicidal, though her family refuted those claims. For years, Kanesaki's case went unsolved. Kocontes remarried a third, then a fourth time. 

In 2013, Kocontes was arrested for Kanesaki's murder. Prosecutors alleged that he had strangled her and tossed her overboard. Kocontes's third wife, who had testified on his behalf during initial investigations in 2006, did a 180 in 2013, telling officials that Kocontes had killed Kanesaki. His motive, prosecutors allege, had been to inherit Kanesaki's estate. 

Christopher Caldwell Disappeared While On A Trip With His Betrothed

Christopher Caldwell, 36, disappeared from a Carnival Cruise ship headed from Miami, FL, to Cozumel, Mexico, in July  2004. Caldwell had gone on the cruise with his betrothed.

According to a letter written by Caldwell's family as posted on International Cruise Victims, Caldwell and his fiancée had dinner and drinks before his fiancée decided to turn in, and Caldwell decided to visit the ship casino alone. When Caldwell's fiancée awoke in the morning, she found that Caldwell had never returned. 

Caldwell was last spotted on the ship's deck. The bartender who saw him said he seemed extremely intoxicated. No one knows what happened next, though it is suspected that Caldwell toppled overboard. 

John Halford Vanished On The Last Day Of His Cruise

John Halford , 63, disappeared from the ship Thomson Spirit while on an Egyptian cruise in April 2011. 

He disappeared on the last day of the cruise before the ship would dock. He was slated to see his wife the following day at the airport when he returned home to Milton Keynes, England. He sent her a text message, then ate dinner and went for drinks at a bar on the ship's upper deck. He was last seen at about 12:30 a.m. His bags were packed, and his glasses, phone, and passport were found in his room. 

Though Halford was last spotted drinking, no one who interacted with him thought he was drunk, and his wife said he gave no indication of being suicidal. No one knows what happened to him, whether he fell overboard or something else. 

In the middle of the ocean, no one can hear you scream.

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Man Who Disappeared from Carnival Cruise Ship 'Jumped' Overboard, Officials Say

Security footage from the Carnival Glory showed Tyler Barnett “jumping off the cruise ship,” according to an update from the Coast Guard

Abigail Adams is a Human Interest Writer and Reporter for PEOPLE. She has been working in journalism for seven years.

Gerard Bottino/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty

Authorities say the man who recently disappeared from a Carnival cruise ship appeared to have jumped overboard.

Security footage from the Carnival Glory “shows the man jumping off the cruise ship ,” according to a Tuesday night update from the Coast Guard.

The agency has officially identified the missing man as Tyler Barnett of Houma, Louisiana.

A Carnival spokesperson tells PEOPLE that footage appeared to show Barnett jumping from the ship’s Deck 4 around 1:40 a.m. local time on Monday.

“He can be seen climbing on a lifeboat and jumping from there,” the spokesperson said.

Barnett’s mother Elisha Reid told Business Insider that her daughter was previously informed that there was no footage of what happened.

In Carnival's statement to PEOPLE, a spokesperson said that on Tuesday, they were "advised of the possibility of him wearing a different shirt, which allowed our security team to change the profile of the guest as we searched onboard video."

"We have informed the U.S. Coast Guard and are providing assistance to the guest’s family that was traveling with him," they added.

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Family members previously said Barnett’s passenger card was swiped at the ship’s casino at 12:15 a.m., and his room just before 12:30 a.m., according to CBS affiliate WWL-TV . Carnival crew members began searching for Barnett around 7:30 a.m.

The Coast Guard said watchstanders with its New Orleans sector were alerted to the incident just after 12:30 p.m. on Monday.

So far, crews have searched more than 200 miles of water for the missing passenger, according to the agency. But adverse weather conditions have hampered the search.

"I just want answers, and I'm holding out for hope," Barnett's grandmother Dirlean Tate Mason told NBC News in a story published on Tuesday.

The Coast Guard has since narrowed its search area roughly 30 miles southwest of the Southwest Pass. 

Meanwhile, Carnival Cruise Line said its Care Team “is supporting the missing guest's family on board” the ship, which "arrived today to Montego Bay, Jamaica as planned."

On Facebook, Mason said she and her family are in need of prayers as they await answers. “We are holding on to hope and prayer that he will be found safe,” she wrote. "Our hearts are breaking."

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Carnival passenger goes overboard during Caribbean cruise, Coast Guard suspends search

A Carnival Cruise Line passenger went overboard on the line’s Carnival Glory ship.

The man appears to have jumped from the fourth deck shortly before 2 a.m. on Monday, according to Carnival spokesperson Matt Lupoli. A family member reported the passenger missing on Monday morning.

"Only on Tuesday were we advised of the possibility of him wearing a different shirt, which allowed our security team to change the profile of the guest as we searched onboard video," Lupoli said in an emailed statement. "We have informed the U.S. Coast Guard and are providing assistance to the guest’s family that was traveling with him who are still on board."

The Coast Guard suspended its search for the passenger on Thursday, and the incident is under investigation.

After the man was reported missing, the ship’s security team immediately began searching the vessel, Lupoli said in an earlier statement. The ship was on its way from New Orleans to Montego Bay, Jamaica at the time as part of a week-long Western Caribbean cruise that began Sunday, according to CruiseMapper .

The Coast Guard said the passenger was 28-year-old Tyler Barnett from Houma, Louisiana. Petty Officer 3rd Class Anthony Randisi told USA TODAY that Carnival reported the guest was last seen around midnight on Monday.

The Coast Guard began searching later that day. “Our crews battled severe weather conditions for multiple days and made every effort to find Mr. Barnett," Lt. Cmdr. Sean DiGeorge, Coast Guard District Eight search and rescue mission coordinator, said in a news release . "Suspending an active search is never a decision we make lightly, and we offer our most sincere condolences to Mr. Barnett’s family and friends.”

The search area originally encompassed approximately 200 miles, but was narrowed to "roughly 30 miles southwest of" Louisiana's Southwest Pass, the Coast Guard said on X , formerly Twitter.

The Coast Guard cleared Carnival Glory to continue to Montego Bay, where it was set to arrive Wednesday, Lupoli said.

Cruise overboard detection systems: What are they and why doesn't every ship have them?

Between 2009 and 2019, there were 212 overboard incidents globally involving passengers and crew, according to  statistics compiled for Cruise Lines International Association  by consulting firm G.P. Wild (International) Ltd. Among those, only 48 people were rescued.

If you or someone you know may be struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can call the  U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline  at 800-273-TALK (8255) any time day or night, or  chat online.

Crisis Text Line  also provides free, 24/7, confidential support via text message to people in crisis when they dial 741741.

Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville . You can reach him at [email protected].

Carnival Cruise passenger reported missing after ship returns to Florida

Kevin McGrath was last seen in his cabin before returning to port.

A guest aboard a Carnival cruise ship was reported missing by family Monday morning, according to the Miami-Dade Police Department.

Kevin McGrath, 26, was on the Carnival Conquest with family and was last seen by his brother in his cabin early Monday, the day the ship arrived back to Port Miami, according to a spokesperson for Carnival Cruise Line.

McGrath was supposed to meet with family for breakfast before disembarking the ship, but he never arrived, Miami-Dade Detective Angel Rodriguez said in a statement.

After an extensive search, Carnival crew members were unable to find McGrath on the ship. The U.S. Coast Guard and the Miami-Dade Police Department were later called to investigate and searched the ship and the water for the missing man but failed to locate him.

MORE: Coast Guard searching for cruise passenger who jumped overboard off Florida coast

Surveillance systems and the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol did not find McGrath once passengers were disembarking the ship, Carnival said. Miami-Dade authorities also checked security cameras, none of which indicated that he may have gone overboard, Rodriguez said.

McGrath's whereabouts are still unknown.

McGrath is 5-foot-9 and 170 pounds and was last seen wearing a black T-shirt, black shorts and gray sneakers.

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‘My brother didn't just vanish': Family frustrated after Carnival Cruise passenger disappears

Kevin mcgrath has been missing since monday. carnival officials said he wasn't seen in surveillance footage., by kim wynne • published september 6, 2023 • updated on september 7, 2023 at 12:37 pm.

Danielle McGrath says the past few days have been unnerving for her and her family.

“All of our emotions are up and down right now,” McGrath said. “All of us.”

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Her brother, 26-year-old Kevin McGrath, a father of two, has been missing since Monday. He was last seen in his cabin around 7 a.m. Monday morning on a Carnival cruise ship heading back to Port Miami. The trip was a birthday celebration for their father.

“The whole point of the cruise was to celebrate my dad’s 60th birthday, and it was a big group of about 40 people,” she said.

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McGrath said later Monday morning — as the cruise was ending and passengers were disembarking — the family gathered for breakfast, but Kevin never showed up.

“When it’s time to meet up for breakfast, no one can find him,” she said.

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Family members searched all over the cruise ship.

“He wasn’t in the room,” McGrath said. “No one could find him. No one.”

Once they reported him missing, the U.S. Coast Guard was contacted and searched the water by helicopter. Miami-Dade Police are also investigating but have no leads.

“The guest was not detected by surveillance systems, including U.S. Customs and Border Patrol during the debarkation process," a Carnival spokesperson said in part in a statement to NBC6. "Miami-Dade Police eventually cleared the ship to sail. The Carnival Care Team is supporting the guest’s family.”

The Coast Guard announced Thursday that they were suspending their search for McGrath.

“My jaw just dropped,” said friend Mitchell Branch. “I was speechless. I didn’t know what to say.”

Branch said he and Kevin served in the U.S. Army together.

“We were in the same unit, same battalion, same company,” he said.

He and other family members say Kevin would never disappear and was always in good spirits.

“He’s always the light of the room,” Branch said.

“He has this huge personality that will definitely stick out in any room,” McGrath said. “He’s very straightforward, goofy, he’s funny.”

McGrath is urging other passengers who may have seen him that morning to speak up.

“My brother didn’t just vanish,” McGrath said. “Someone knows something. Someone’s seen something. I just want my brother home. My family wants my brother home. Just please, we need him home.”

Family members say Kevin was last seen wearing a black t-shirt, black shorts, and gray sneakers.

Anyone with information should call Miami-Dade Police at 305-715-3300.

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Search for man who fell off Carnival cruise ship near Florida is suspended

The Coast Guard on Wednesday night suspended the search for a cruise ship passenger who is believed to have fallen into the sea east of Florida on Monday morning, officials said.

Ronnie Peale, 35, was identified as the passenger who fell about 4 a.m. as the Carnival Magic cruise ship was around 180 miles east of Jacksonville.

“The decision to suspend the active search efforts pending further development is never one we take lightly. We offer our most sincere condolences to Mr. Peale’s family and friends," Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Christopher Hooper said in a statement .

The Coast Guard said it was notified around 6:30 p.m. Monday that a passenger had fallen. The search involved HC-130 Hercules airplanes, a HC-144 plane and a cutter, which is a ship.

More than 5,171 square miles were searched, the Coast Guard said.

The Carnival Magic is around 1,000 feet long and has a capacity of almost 3,700 passengers, in addition to around 1,300 crew members, according to the cruise company. It had been scheduled to arrive Tuesday in Norfolk, Virginia.

Phil Helsel is a reporter for NBC News.

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A cruise ship passenger was rescued by the Coast Guard after hours in Gulf waters

Giulia Heyward

A Carnival cruise ship docked in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption

A Carnival cruise ship docked in San Francisco, California.

A cruise ship passenger had been missing for hours before he was rescued from sea waters by the U.S. Coast Guard off of Louisiana's southeast coast on Thursday evening.

The passenger, who officials identified as a 28-year old man, was found about 20 miles south of Southwest Pass, La., after he'd fallen overboard from a Carnival Valor cruise ship on Wednesday evening, the Coast Guard said in a press release.

However, cruise ship officials did not contact the Coast Guard New Orleans Sector to report the missing passenger until 2:30 p.m. local time on Thursday. Hours later, aircrew members of the Coast Guard rescued the passenger at 8:25 p.m. It was a crew aboard the bulk carrier vessel Crinis that had alerted Coast Guard members to the man's location after spotting a person in the water.

In footage released by the Coast Guard, the passenger is lifted from the dark waters and onto a helicopter operated by an aircrew. He was then transported to the New Orleans Lakefront Airport to receive emergency medical attention. The passenger was in stable condition as of Friday.

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"We are beyond grateful that this case ended with a positive outcome," said Lt. Seth Gross, a Sector New Orleans search and rescue mission coordinator.

Footage from the rescue of the cruise ship passenger last night. Can also be downloaded here: https://t.co/xk0pBnVr1E pic.twitter.com/GK1IXCKlgx — USCG Heartland (@USCGHeartland) November 25, 2022

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"It took a total team effort from Coast Guard watchstanders, response crews, and our professional maritime partners operating in the Gulf of Mexico to locate the missing individual and get him to safety," Gross said. "If not for the alert crew aboard the motor vessel Crinis, this case could have had a much more difficult ending."

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A 41-year-old man is missing after he went overboard over the weekend on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship to the Bahamas, officials said.

The Coast Guard received a call at 7:17 p.m. Sunday about the passenger, who fell off the vessel around 127 miles east of Charleston, South Carolina, Petty Officer Vincent Moreno told the Post and Courier .

“A guest went overboard from Vision of the Seas. The ship and crew immediately reported the incident to local authorities and launched a search and rescue mission,” a company rep told The Post in an email.

“Out of privacy for the guest and their family, we have no additional details to share,” the statement added Monday.

The Coast Guard deployed a C-130 Hercules plane from Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and another C-130 crew responded from Clearwater, Florida, to relieve the first.

But on Monday morning, the agency announced it had suspended the search after scouring more than 1,625 square miles for eight hours, WCBD reported .

The missing man was aboard Royal Caribbean’s “8 Night Bahamas & Perfect Day Holiday Cruise,” which left from Baltimore on Friday, passengers told the Post and Courier.

Jake Utzinger, a 21-year-old film student from New Jersey who was vacationing with his girlfriend’s family, said he was lying in bed around 7:45 p.m. when the captain announced that a passenger had fallen overboard. “I instantly felt sick to my stomach knowing that one of our fellow travelers had been lost at sea,” Utzinger told the paper.

He said he, his girlfriend and other passengers rushed to the pool deck to provide “extra pairs of eyes” in the search-and-rescue effort.

Another passenger, Colin Schappi, told WCBD that he heard the announcement “Oscar! Oscar! Oscar! Starboard!” — a call to the crew signifying an overboard emergency on the right side of the ship — about 7:15 p.m.

“We were wondering what was going on with that,” he said.

Crews stopped the ship, dropped a strobe lamp, and searched for the passenger for six hours before resuming the trip around 2 a.m. “It’s definitely going to be rough continuing this voyage knowing that a family is missing their loved one,” Utzinger told the news outlet.

The Vision of the Seas’ next stop is Port Canaveral, Florida, after which it will sail throughout the Bahamas before returning to Baltimore on Saturday.

The 915-foot-long ship, which has a total capacity of 2,000 guests and 700 crew members, made its first voyage in 1988, according to the Royal Caribbean website.

In August, a Royal Caribbean passenger went overboard from the Wonder of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in the world, while it was off the coast of Cuba during a voyage from Florida.

The passenger was identified as 19-year-old Sigmund Ropich, a college student from Washington state known to his loved ones as “Boiboi.” He had been vacationing with friends at the time.

Earlier that month, an  Indian woman died  after she apparently jumped off the company’s Spectrum of the Seas.

Reeta Sahani, 64, was reported missing after her husband, Jakesh Sahani, 70, woke up in the middle of the night and noticed she was not in their cabin.  

In June, a 42-year-old woman was rescued after she fell off Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas about 25 miles south of Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic during its voyage from Florida.

Other recent incidents occurred on the cruise ships Carnival Magic, Carnival Elation and Emerald Princess. 

On average, 19 people go overboard on cruise ships every year — and of those, only about four are rescued, according to a 2020 study commissioned by the industry trade group Cruise Lines International Association.

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Teen passenger who fell overboard from world’s largest cruise ship is identified as search continues

Sigmund ropich, 19, was named as the passenger who went overboard from the wonder of the seas last week, article bookmarked.

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The passenger who went overboard on the largest cruise ship in the world has been named as 19-year-old Sigmund Ropich.

Mr Ropich, a college student, was identified by his sister Savannah Ropich, who said she had been in contact with the US Embassy in Cuba.

Mr Ropich went overboard from Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas before 9pm on 29 August during the second day of a seven-day trip sailing from Port Canaveral in Florida to the Grand Cayman Islands, the cruise company said. He has still not been found almost a week later.

The teen was on holiday on the cruise with his best friends, his co-worker and his co-worker’s family, when the incident happened.

"Sig is a great kid. Never gets in trouble and never caused trouble. Very intelligent, got A’s in Calculus/Physics/Government in high school with no effort. He is a college student as well and works too. He is a kind, reserved and humble kid who also loves to make people laugh. I always call him the ‘Cool, Calm and Collected’ sibling," Ms Ropich told Fox News .

Ms Ropich said that Cuban officials have stopped their search operation in the sea, but have now moved to the coastline and land to continue looking.

“I have a strong feeling they’re going the end this search,” Ms Ropich told Insider.

“We are very hopeful if they open [the] search back in the ocean. We need them to open it again,” Ms Ropich said.

The family of Mr Ropich said they have very few details on his disappearance and search. Royal Caribbean has not informed the family how long the ship’s crew has searched for the missing teenager, his sister said.

The family have been "praying hourly day and night" for Mr Ropich to be found.

Royal Caribbean said it was working with the US Coast Guard on the search for Mr Ropich. However, a spokesperson for the South Florida branch of the US Coast Guard told Business Insider that the Cuban Border Guard is leading the search, because the incident occurred in Cuba’s territorial waters.

The incident was reported at around 9pm ET on 29 August when an “Oscar! Oscar! Oscar!” call, which signifies an overboard emergency, was made, according to industry blog Cruise Hive.

The crew launched a three-hour search in the water using searchlights and smaller boats and the ship turned around to retrace its route.

Passengers on board the 230,000-ton cruise ship Wonder of the Seas said that their original journey had already been diverted due to Hurricane Idalia.

The Wonder of the Seas is a 1,188 feet long ship and enough space to accommodate 7,000 passengers and 2,300 crew members.

At 18 decks high, this vessel is the largest cruise ship in the world. It is unclear whereabouts on the boat Mr Ropich went overboard from.

A woman claiming to be a passenger on the Wonder of the Seas posted on TikTok saying the captain announced video evidence that showed the man jumping overboard. Mr Ropich’s sister spoke against this, saying the woman was spreading misinformation.

“She has no clue what is going on with the whereabouts of my brother and his situation,” Ms Ropich said in a Facebook post.

Since Mr Ropich is an American citizen, the Coast Guard could not conduct an investigation until the Wonder of the Seas docked back in the US on Sunday.

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A cruise ship rescues 68 migrants and finds 5 bodies in a boat adrift in the Atlantic Ocean

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MADRID (AP) — A cruise ship rescued 68 migrants and found five bodies in a traditional fishing boat that was drifting off the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, Spain’s maritime rescue agency said Thursday.

It said an oil tanker traveling from northwestern Spain to Brazil spotted the drifting boat on Wednesday afternoon about 815 kilometers (506 miles) south of Tenerife, one of the seven islands in the Canaries archipelago.

Spanish authorities diverted the Insignia, a cruise ship, to rescue the migrants. The Insignia crew also recovered three of the five bodies on the fishing boat. The remains of two people were left at sea because of bad weather hampering their recovery.

The canoe-shaped boats, known as pirogues, are used by fishermen in Mauritania and Senegal.

It is unusual for cruise ships to make rescues of migrants on the Atlantic route, but the pirogue “was a long way out and they could be in danger,” said a maritime rescue’s spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity under departmental rules.

One of the passengers on the cruise ship, Steve Dilbeck from Huntington Beach, California, said they were not told about the dead.

“They did say the boat had been at sea for 20 days,” Dilbeck told The Associated Press in a text message. “We were diverted in the evening and took us two hours to reach them. They were brought on board and placed in the Insignia Lounge, which is where they have all their shows.”

“The area has been closed off to passengers. Told they had them remove their clothes and put on jumpsuits. Then they asked passengers if they had shoes and clothes they could donate, particularly for men. Their announcement said 62 were men, with the rest women and children,” he added.

The Marshall Islands-flagged Insignia had left Mindelo, a port city in Cape Verde, on Tuesday. Its operator, Miami-based Oceania Cruises, did not immediately comment on the rescue.

The Spanish rescue agency emailed a statement saying the Insignia is expected to arrive on Friday at the port of Santa Cruz, Tenerife.

The Canary Islands is a destination for boats packed with migrants departing from northwestern Africa on a perilous Atlantic route in search of a better life in Europe.

Spain’s Interior Ministry says a record 55,618 migrants arrived by boat — most of them in the Canary Islands — last year, almost double the number of the previous year. More than 23,000 have landed so far this year, the ministry said.

The Spanish nonprofit organization Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders) says more than 5,000 migrants have died so far this year through May while trying to reach Spanish coasts, most of them on the Atlantic route. The figure for all 2023 was 6,600, more than double the number for 2022.

Associated Press writer Beth Harris in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of migration issues at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

Cruise ship rescues 68 migrants, finds five bodies in a boat adrift off Canary Islands

A cruise ship rescued 68 migrants and found five bodies in a traditional fishing boat that was drifting off the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, Spain’s maritime rescue agency said Thursday.

It said an oil tanker travelling from northwestern Spain to Brazil spotted the drifting boat on Wednesday afternoon about 815 kilometres (506 miles) south of Tenerife, one of the seven islands in the Canaries archipelago.

Spanish authorities diverted the Insignia, a cruise ship, to rescue the migrants. The Insignia crew also recovered three of the five bodies on the fishing boat. The remains of two people were left at sea because of bad weather hampering their recovery.

The canoe-shaped boats, known as pirogues, are used by fishermen in Mauritania and Senegal.

It is unusual for cruise ships to make rescues of migrants on the Atlantic route, but the pirogue “was a long way out and they could be in danger,” said a maritime rescue’s spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity under departmental rules.

One of the passengers on the cruise ship, Steve Dilbeck from Huntington Beach, California, said they were not told about the dead.

“They did say the boat had been at sea for 20 days,” Dilbeck told The Associated Press in a text message. “We were diverted in the evening and took us two hours to reach them. They were brought on board and placed in the Insignia Lounge, which is where they have all their shows.”

“The area has been closed off to passengers. Told they had them remove their clothes and put on jumpsuits. Then they asked passengers if they had shoes and clothes they could donate, particularly for men. Their announcement said 62 were men, with the rest women and children,” he added.

The Marshall Islands-flagged Insignia had left Mindelo, a port city in Cape Verde, on Tuesday. Its operator, Miami-based Oceania Cruises, did not immediately comment on the rescue.

The Spanish rescue agency e-mailed a statement saying the Insignia is expected to arrive on Friday at the port of Santa Cruz, Tenerife.

The Canary Islands is a destination for boats packed with migrants departing from northwestern Africa on a perilous Atlantic route in search of a better life in Europe.

Spain’s Interior Ministry says a record 55,618 migrants arrived by boat – most of them in the Canary Islands – last year, almost double the number of the previous year. More than 23,000 have landed so far this year, the ministry said.

The Spanish non-profit organization Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders) says more than 5,000 migrants have died so far this year through May while trying to reach Spanish coasts, most of them on the Atlantic route. The figure for all 2023 was 6,600, more than double the number for 2022.

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Luxury cruise ship helps rescue 68 migrants heading for Canary Islands as five die

A luxury cruise ship rescued dozens of migrants who were trying to reach the Spanish Canary Islands in a fishing boat that had stalled in rough seas.

Bulk carrier Philipp Oldendorff sighted the boat adrift 440 nautical miles (815 km) south of the island of Tenerife on Wednesday.

After its crew provide first aid, the Insignia cruise ship was diverted to the area to pick up the survivors, the Spanish Coast Guard said.

Five people on the boat had already died.

The group of islands has become the main point of entry to Spain for illegal migrants from Africa in recent years. The route is also the deadliest.

Migration rights group Walking Borders said last week that nearly 5,000 migrants died at sea on that route in the first five months of 2024.

The Insignia, which is owned by Miami-based Oceania Cruises, also managed to recover three bodies from the boat, but bad weather prevented the recovery of another two bodies so the ship left a locating device to facilitate the search.

The small luxury cruise ship with a 670-passenger capacity is undertaking a 180-day trip around the world that started in January. It was expected to reach Tenerife at 7am (6am GMT) on Friday.

“Safety of life at sea is of paramount importance for all seafarers,” a spokesman for Oceania Cruises, which is owned by Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings.

“We can confirm that the Insignia rescued 68 people from a vessel in distress between Cape Verde and Tenerife, brought them onboard for medical assistance and provided food, drinks, clothing and a safe place to rest.”

A Spanish coast guard vessel was en route from the Canary Islands on Thursday to meet the Insignia and then locate the shipwreck.

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What to know about the 5 passengers who were on the Titanic sub

By Aimee Picchi

Edited By Irina Ivanova , Alain Sherter

Updated on: June 22, 2023 / 8:08 PM EDT / MoneyWatch

The five people who were aboard a  submersible that went missing while on an expedition to explore the wreckage of the Titanic did not survive , according to the company that arranged the trip. 

The passengers on the 21-foot sub were British businessman Hamish Harding; Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his teenage son, Suleman; French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet; and Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate , the company that operates the vessel.

"We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet have sadly been lost," OceanGate said in a statement to CBS News. "These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world's oceans."

OceanGate had billed the trip as a chance to "become one of the few to see the Titanic with your own eyes." Securing a seat on the vessel cost $250,000, according to the company, which touted the trip not as mere tourism but as a dive with a scientific purpose.

Last year, Rush told CBS News that the tours attract people of all income levels despite the high sticker price. "We've had people who have mortgaged their home to come and do the trip. And we have people who don't think twice about a trip of this cost," he said.

In a June 17 Facebook post, Harding announced he was "proud" to be joining the expedition. 

"The team on the sub has a couple of legendary explorers, some of which have done over 30 dives to the RMS Titanic since the 1980s including PH Nargeolet," he noted. 

Here's what to know about the passengers who were aboard the sub.

Hamish Harding, chairman of Action Aviation

Harding was the chairman of a company called Action Aviation, which sells aircraft to Fortune 100 companies, international corporations, heads of state and people in the entertainment and sports industries, according to its website. 

The British businessman is referred to as a billionaire in the British press, but Forbes magazine  noted  that he's not included on its list of the world's richest people. 

Aside from his business, Harding was known for his exploits as an adventurer. He held several  records with the Guinness Book of World Records, including "fastest circumnavigation of Earth via both the geographic poles" by airplane, which he and a team accomplished in 2019 in a little over 46 hours. 

Harding also was one of six people on Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin's mission last June, when they flew to the edge of space.

Before the Titanic expedition, Harding shared on Facebook that the mission was "likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023" because of weather conditions. 

In an interview two years ago, Harding acknowledged the risks and dangers of underwater expeditions after he had traveled with U.S. explorer  Victor Vescovo  more than two and a half miles along the floor of the Mariana Trench, 35,876 feet below the sea surface. 

"The only problem is that there is no other sub that is capable of going down there to rescue you," he said of that journey. "[H]aving four days of supply doesn't make a difference really. If something goes wrong, you are not coming back."

In a statement on Tuesday, Action Aviation Managing Director Mark Butler said the company and Harding's family are "very grateful for all the kind messages of concern and support from our friends and colleagues."

Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman Dawood

Shahzada Dawood, who was 48, was the vice chairman of Dawood Hercules, an investment and holding company based in Karachi, Pakistan.

Dawood Hercules is part of the Dawood Group, a family business for more than a century, according to his biography at the SETI Institute, where he also served on the board. Dawood was heir to one of Pakistan's largest family fortunes, according to the New York Times.

"Our deepest condolences to the Dawood family and the family of other passengers on the sad news about the fate of Titanic submersible in the North Atlantic," Pakistan's Foreign Ministry wrote on Twitter Thursday. "We appreciate the multinational efforts over the last several days in search of the vessel."

Dawood was a resident of the U.K. with his wife and two children, Suleman and daughter Alina, the SETI Institute noted. He was also an "ardent animal lover" and had a master's degree in global textile marketing from Philadelphia University in the U.S. and a law degree from Buckingham University in the U.K.

Suleman Dawood was 19 years old, according to the U.K.'s DailyMail. He was a science fiction fan and also enjoyed solving Rubik's Cubes and playing volleyball, according to DH Group & Engro Corporation, part of the Dawood Hercules Group.

"We are very grateful for the concern being shown by our colleagues and friends and would like to request everyone to pray for their safety," the Dawood family said in a statement.

Paul-Henri Nargeolet, "Titanic's Greatest Explorer"

Nargeolet was known as a Titanic expert, according to the OceanGate website. He led six expeditions to the ship's wreckage site and was known as "Titanic's Greatest Explorer," the company said. 

Nargeolet was also the director of underwater research for RMS Titanic, an American company that owns the salvage rights to the wreck and operates exhibits featuring artifacts from the ship. About 30 million people have visited its exhibits, according to the company.

In an interview with CBS News this week, G. Michael Harris, founder of RMS Titanic, said that he has worked with Nargeolet for the past 30 years, describing him as an "all-around good guy." 

Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate

Rush, the CEO of the company running the expedition, was also the sub's pilot.

When he was 19, Rush was the youngest person to become a jet transport-rated pilot when he earned a DC-8 Type/Captain's rating at the United Airlines Jet Training Institute, according to his biography at OceanGate.

Rush earned a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from Princeton University in 1984 and an MBA from the Berkeley Haas School of Business in 1989. In 2009, Rush founded OceanGate, where he oversees the company's financial and engineering strategies, according to the company.

Rush told CBS News' David Pogue last year that OceanGate still hadn't turned a profit. 

"People might say, 'Hey, that's a lot of money, $250,000.' But we went through over a million dollars of gas," he said.

— CBS News' Emmet Lyons contributed to this report.

• North Atlantic
• Atlantic Ocean
• Submersible

Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports.

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