A passenger went overboard from the MSC Prezoria early today after the cruise ship left the port of Santos headed to New Year’s Eve festivities in Rio de Janeiro with thousands of passengers and artists, according to several publications in Brazil.

Few factual details exist regarding how the person went overboard from the ship, other than reports that he fell from the ship around 12:30 a.m.

MSC resorted to its usual claims that the person jumped overboard intentionally. Some of the news reports suggest that he went over the rails of his cabin’s balcony.

Two rescue boats from the cruise ship searched for the man for several hours. The Brazilian Coast Guard also searched for the man but its efforts were unsuccessful. MSC claims that the Coast Guard released the ship to continue its cruise.

The passenger’s name and age were not disclosed.

The incident resulted in the cancellation of a show which was suppose to be performed by musician and singer Alexandre Pires.

This is the third person who has gone overboard from a MSC cruise ship in the last forty-five days. According to cruise expert Dr. Ross Klein‘s definitive data, he is the 401st person who has gone overboard since 2000.

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December 31, 2023 Update:

From a reader in Brazil:

“A Brazilian influencer who was on board the ship made this Instagram video at the moment they announced man over board. MSC claims that a couple had an argument and the man intentionally jumped from his balcony to the sea. They searched for two hours then left the Brazilian Coast Guard in charge of rescue efforts (as you can hear the announcement in Portuguese in the end of the video).

Photo credit: Harry Garland – CC0 commons / wikimedia via Flickr

January 2, 2024 Update:

Articles in the New York Post and Daily Mail include details of the incident.