A passenger went overboard from the Odyssey of the Seas Friday morning, October 9, according to a Reddit post. The poster states that “around 10 am, the captain informed us that a woman had jumped off the ship in the early hours of the morning” and that “we’ve now been circling for hours.”
Cruise ship tracking data shows the Odyssey of the Seas changing course and turning around between 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. local time while the ship was in the Ionian Sea between Italy and Greece. The ship circled a small area for several hours and is still in the area eight hours later at 7:00 p.m. local time, according to The Cruise Globe.
The ship was sailing to Naples, Italy from Mykonos Island, Greece when the incident occurred.
The Greek Coast Guard is assisting with the search and rescue effort, according to local Greek news. The outlet reports that the missing woman is a 44-year-old citizen of El Salvador who went overboard approximately 72 nautical miles southwest of Zakynthos, Greece. Three nearby ships, a Greek Coast Guard rescue vessel, and a military helicopter are participating in the search.
The Greek report does not identify the cruise ship by name but confirms that it flies the Bahamian flag, consistent with the Odyssey of the Seas.
No reports indicate the Odyssey of the Seas is equipped with an automatic man overboard system. Man overboard systems save lives by automatically alerting a ship’s bridge when a person goes overboard and by tracking the overboard person in the water. Ships without such systems can go hours before realizing a person has gone overboard.
Earlier in September, a man passed away after jumping overboard from the Carnival Panorama. The ship did not start its search and rescue operation until Saturday at 2:00 p.m. even though the man went overboard the night before.
No additional information has been released about the incident on the Odyssey of the Seas. Royal Caribbean has not responded to a request for comment as of the time of publication.
This is a developing story.
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Image Credit: Odyssey of the Seas – Hannes Grobe – Wikimedia Commons; Odyssey of the Seas search and rescue location – The Cruise Globe
