An elderly passenger went overboard from the Carnival Splendor while the ship was off the coast of Brisbane, Australia in the early hours of April 18, 2026. The subsequent search and rescue operation led by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) was unsuccessful and the man is presumably dead.
At 1:44 a.m. a man overboard alert was made over the ship’s PA system. The Carnival Splendor changed course by 1:55 a.m based on the ship’s tracking data. Several sites report that the man’s family reported him missing to the ship’s crew but it is unclear if this was before or after the man overboard alert was made.
Carnival told 9News CCTV footage showed that the man climbed over the safety railing and jumped overboard from the ship.
The Carnival Splendor and the AMSA searched for the man for over 16 hours before the operation was suspended at roughly 5:30pm. An AMSA spokesperson said, “Following an intensive air and sea search involving multiple assets, the missing person was not located and AMSA has now released all assets from tasking.”
The Carnival Splendor, like all Carnival ships, does not have a man overboard system. Man overboard systems can save lives by immediately alerting the ship’s captain when someone goes overboard.
The incident occured the same day a passenger on the Carnival Splendor drowned while snorkeling the Tangalooma Wrecks at Moreton Island. The two incidents are reportedly not related.