Passenger goes overboard and vanishes on cruise headed to Hawaii, Coast Guard says

A passenger who plunged from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship heading to Hawaii remains missing, the U.S. Coast Guard reported.

The Australian man went overboard at about 11 p.m. Tuesday, April 25, from the Quantum of the Seas about 500 miles south of Hawaii, the Coast Guard said in a news release.

The ship had been at sea 15 days on a cruise to Honolulu, where it is expected to arrive Friday, April 28, the release said.

The ship remained on scene for two hours to look for the man and the crew deployed six life rings, according to the release.

A U.S. Coast Guard C-130 Hercules searched for the missing passenger for six hours on Wednesday, April 26, the release said.

The Coast Guard suspended the search Thursday, April 27, the agency said in a news release.

“After reviewing all relevant information of the case and discussing it with the next of kin, the Coast Guard has made the difficult decision to suspend the active search for the passenger aboard the Quantum of the Seas,” Kevin Cooper, a search and rescue mission coordinator for the Joint Rescue Coordination Center Honolulu, said in the release.

The 16-deck Quantum of the Seas, launched in 2014, has 2,094 staterooms and carries up to 4,905 passengers, according to Royal Caribbean.

The current voyage departed from Brisbane, CNN reported. Royal Caribbean told the network the crew is working with local authorities in the search.

This story was originally published April 27, 2023 at 12:27 PM with the headline "Passenger goes overboard and vanishes on cruise headed to Hawaii, Coast Guard says."