A 69 year old woman on a cruise ship making its way from Ireland to Florida is believed to have fallen overboard, reports Express.co.uk.
What happened?
The 69-year-old passenger was reported missing from the liner, MS Amsterdam, which left Glengarriff in West Cork on Tuesday evening, headed for the popular holiday resort Fort Lauderdale in Florida.
The guest is believed to have disappeared from the ship at around 1.30 am on Wednesday. One passenger said the missing woman fell off the ship “just off the coast of Ireland.”
In a statement the company said: “At approximately 6.50 am local time, a 69-year-old female guest aboard Amsterdam was reported missing by a member of her family.”
Search efforts launched
A search was launched and the captain turned around the ship after travelling around 400 km, but no discovery was made.
Ship staff immediately began searching the vessel, and the ship turned around to head back toward its approximate location at the time the guest had last been seen on board.
All appropriate authorities were notified. Amsterdam was approximately 140 nautical miles southwest of the coast of Ireland when she was reported missing.
Planned passage resumed
Due to deteriorating weather conditions, Amsterdam was released from search efforts at 2.06pm by Maritime Rescue Coordination Center Southampton.
The ship then resumed its planned passage to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and is scheduled to arrive at Port Everglades May 16.
HM Coastguard confirmed it had coordinated the search operation.
Search terminated?
A spokesman said: “HM Coastguard had been coordinating the search for a missing woman, who was last seen on a cruise ship in the early hours of Wednesday morning, approximately 240nm (275miles) south west of Malin Head, Ireland.”
“The search was terminated yesterday evening, pending further information. Our thoughts are with all those involved.”
Passenger’s thought is that it is unlikely that given the weather conditions of rough seas and chilly waters the passenger would have survived after so many hours of search.
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Source: Express.co.uk
