A Taiwanese cruise visitor tragically died after falling overboard from Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Spirit yesterday, August 8, 2024.
The incident, which occurred throughout a voyage off the coast of Taiwan, has left each passengers and worldwide viewers in shock as disturbing video footage, captured by a fellow passenger, has shortly unfold on-line.
The passenger, recognized solely as a person in his 30s, was reportedly touring alone when he fell from the ship’s deck. Regardless of a right away search and rescue operation, the person’s physique was recovered, however he was pronounced useless on the scene.
Cruise Hive just isn’t exhibiting the second the overboard was caught on digital camera out of respect for the person’s household and family members.
Fellow passenger Kenji Lao Wang was together with his spouse and son when the incident occurred. After organising a digital camera to report his household throughout a sea day en path to the port of Keelung (Chilung), Taiwan, Wang was taking photographs together with his household when he seen somebody fall overboard. He instantly referred to as for safety.
“Somebody simply jumped in entrance of us,” Wang says in a video shared on YouTube after the autumn. “Now the crew is clearing the deck and sending everybody inside. I don’t know why however he jumped with one thing, looks as if a purse.”
Wang reported the ship stopped instantly and the crew responded shortly by clearing the decks. He additionally added, “That is very stunning to me; by no means been in a state of affairs like this.”
One other passenger, Vivi Hsu, shared her expertise on social media, saying, “We have been simply having fun with the view when instantly we heard a commotion. I noticed a person struggling to carry onto the railing earlier than he fell. It was terrifying—one thing I’ll always remember.”
Activating emergency protocols, Norwegian Spirit crew members deployed lifeboats and coordinated with the native coast guard to seek for the lacking man. The search efforts have been hampered by the 75,904-gross-ton ship’s velocity earlier than it had stopped and tough sea circumstances.
Different passengers reported seeing maritime personnel and safety workers taking photographs and sealing off a room close to the place the person had been staying.
Norwegian Cruise Line is cooperating with an investigation by the Coast Guard and conducting an inner investigation into the tragedy. It has additionally supplied counseling providers to passengers and crew members affected by the incident.
Security Protocols in Place
Whereas incidents of passengers falling overboard are uncommon, they’re taken critically by cruise traces.
The Worldwide Maritime Group’s Worldwide Conference for the Security of Life at Sea (SOLAS) requires cruise ships to have particular measures in place. SOLAS additionally mandates all ships perform common drills and coaching to organize for emergencies, together with man-overboard situations.
Learn Additionally: What Occurs Throughout a Cruise Ship Overboard Alarm?
When a passenger goes overboard on a cruise ship, the occasion triggers a collection of extremely coordinated protocols to rescue the person.
As soon as crew is altered and the ship’s bridge is notified, the ship is dropped at an emergency cease because the crew initiates man-overboard procedures, which embody launching lifeboats. The crew may additionally deploy life rings and different floatation gadgets.
The two,032-passenger Norwegian Spirit, made her debut in Asia on Could 26, 2024, throughout a 10-day cruise from Tokyo.
Its present schedule is working native voyages from homeports in Tokyo, Taipei, and Incheon, Korea. Its worldwide voyages resume in Southeast Asia September 22, 2025, by means of November 17, 2025.
