Passengers Witness Frantic Search for Man Overboard on Norwegian Cruise Ship

A search for a Norwegian Cruise Line passenger who went overboard while en route to the Bahamas has been abandoned. 

The 51-year-old man fell overboard at approximately 3pm on Thursday as the Norwegian Epic was sailing northbound from Ocho Rios, Jamaica, toward Great Stirrup Cay.

‘The authorities were immediately notified, and a search and rescue operation under the guidance and oversight of the Bahamas Rescue Coordination Center went underway,’ a Norwegian Cruise Line spokesperson told DailyMail.com.

The search was ultimately deemed unsuccessful, after which the ship was ‘released by the authorities to continue its voyage’. 

The man who went overboard was traveling with a large group, including his family. 

His family members are being ‘attended to and supported during this very challenging situation,’ the spokesperson added.

The ship departed Port Canaveral, Florida, on Saturday and is currently on a seven-night Western Caribbean voyage.

The vessel is now being diverted to Nassau.

Passengers on board posted videos to social media filming the water in the immediate aftermath where they shared the little information they had.

Pictured: The Norwegian Epic cruise ship, the vessel that reportedly had a passenger go over board on Thursday

Passengers were seen looking out at the open ocean as the search for the missing guest continued

The boat was seen circling the area where flares were shot to mark the position of the ship when a man overboard was first reported

One passenger onboard the ship told DailyMail.com the captain had advised guests that the individual was not found before letting them know the boat was being diverted. 

In one video, a passenger could be heard incorrectly saying the missing individual was a child.

Another passenger who shared a video of the ship circling around as it conducted a search said ‘a guy jumped off the boat’. 

The Holland America Line happened to be nearby and steamed toward the location to try to help in the rescue. Crew members reportedly shot a flare in the water to mark the ship’s position when the ‘man overboard’ was reported.

The identity of the person who went overboard hasn’t been revealed.

Cruise Hive reported that onboard announcements told passengers that the individual who went overboard was wearing a blue shirt at the time of their fall.

The outlet added that Holland America Line’s Zuiderdam was the ship seen racing toward the Norwegian ship in one of the videos. 

The Zuiderdam’s home port is Port Everglades and is in the midst of a 7-night Caribbean itinerary as well, with Thursday being a day at sea.

Sunset in the Bahamas Thursday was at 5:18pm, which would have left rescuers only a few hours of sunlight to get to the victim. 

Pictured: Holland America Line’s Zuiderdam ship in South Queensferry, Scotland, on June 29, 2023

In the first video, which was posted to X at 3:35pm, a woman behind the camera showed the ship circling around a red patch of water said to be the deployed flare.

‘They put a flare, they’re circulating. We did an entire circle looking for the guy that jumped off the boat. He jumped, he fell and bounced off of one of these [lifeboats] and fell in the water,’ she said.

In the other video, posted to TikTok around 5pm, the woman filming zoomed in to show what presumably was the Zuiderdam rushing to the Norwegian ship.

She panned up to a woman standing on a higher balcony who she said was screaming about the person who went overboard. She added that the woman didn’t want to answer more questions. 

‘Some people have binoculars and are trying to look out in the water,’ she said. ‘Poor baby. I hope there’s a miracle. I hope there’s a miracle and they’re able to find him.’

This latest tragedy comes just days after another person fell off a Caribbean cruise. 

DailyMail.com reported that Elizabeth McElmurray, 48, died on the Sky Princess on December 21 as it returned to Florida from the Caribbean.

While the circumstances surrounding her death remain unclear, Princess Cruises says she fell while trying to ‘jump’ into the water, inadvertently landing on one of the cruise ship decks 10 stories below.

On December 15, McElmurray shared a photograph of herself smiling alongside her mother as they boarded the ship in Fort Lauderdale. 

They were setting sail to scatter the ashes of her mother’s husband on his favorite beach in Jamaica.

Elizabeth McElmurray, 48, who tumbled to her death from a cruise ship during a Christmas Caribbean tour has been pictured smiling as she excitedly boarded the boat with her mother just days before. (McElmurray is pictured left, with her mother, Ellen Downie Mathews, right) 

McElmurray, 48, was named by devastated relatives who are still trying to come to terms with her death. It remains unclear exactly what caused her to fall from the Sky Princess ship

‘I never expected to lose my daughter. I want to also publicly thank the crew for their kindness and compassion during this ordeal,’ her devastated mother, Ellen Downie Mathews, said in an online tribute. 

McElmurray’s younger brother paid tribute in another post. 

‘She was an amazing woman that loved her family,’ he said.

‘Her nurturing nature for animals was a wonderful quality we shared together I want to thank everyone who tried to help her and everyone’s kind words. 

‘This is a loss that is so very heavy. Remember to tell your family and friends you love them, make them smile and laugh even when life is hard. Find beauty when ever you can and strength will follow.’

McElmurray was a manager at retailer Circle K, according to social media profiles. She was born in Nashua, New Hampshire, and lived in Wakefield, Massachusetts. 

Passengers on board told DailyMail.com the captain gave the devastating announcement that McElmurray had died over the speakers on Saturday. 

They told DailyMail.com she had tried to jump into the water from one of the top decks, but hit a lifeboat deck around 10 floors below instead. Police were seen combing the cruise ship later that day.  

The ship had been making its way back to Fort Lauderdale, Florida from an eight-day voyage to Cozumel, Mexico; Ocho Rios, Jamaica; George Town, Grand Cayman; and the cruise line’s private Bahamian resort, Princess Cays, at the time.