Passenger Missing From Celebrity's Millennium Cruise Ship
News sources are reporting that a 65 year old passenger is missing from a cruise ship which ported in San Diego on Tuesday.
The unidentified passenger was aboard the Celebrity Millennium cruise ship which was was on a 15-day cruise.
The cruise line did not realize that the passenger was missing until she did not show appear for a customs check when the cruise ship docked in San Diego. The ship had previously stopped in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The Millennium left Cabo on Sunday at about 3 p.m. According to the AP, the missing woman was apparently last seen on board the cruise ship about 10 p.m. Monday.
The passenger apparently went overboard somewhere between Cabo San Lucas and San Diego. A C-130 aircraft, helicopter and Coast Guard vessel searched an area that spans 175 miles between the cities.
We have discussed many overboards on the Royal Caribbean and Celebrity fleet of cruise ships. Click on "disappearances" (to the left) to read about other disappearances of cruise ship passengers. As we have reported before, there have been over 150 overboards from cruise ships in the past decade.
There is no acceptable excuse why a passenger or crew member should ever simply "disappear" during a cruise. Such an incident exposes deficient security and closed circuit television (CCTV) systems on the cruise ship.
May 4th Update: The cruise line subsequently went back and reviewed the CCTV images and determined that the woman climbed over the ship's railing and let go about 9:15 p.m. Monday.
Jim Walker practices maritime personal injury law. Jim has been involved in maritime litigation since 1983. Based in Miami, Florida,
