Coast Guard suspends search for missing cruise passenger, 72, who went overboard in the middle of the Atlantic
Staff on board the ‘Marella Voyager’ first realized the woman was missing when they “found her cabin and bed untouched,” the U.S. Coast Guard tells PEOPLE in a statement
NEED TO KNOW
- A 72-year-old woman who was a passenger on the Marella Voyager was believed to have gone overboard while the ship was crossing the Atlantic Ocean earlier this week
- Staff first realized the woman was missing when they “found her cabin and bed untouched,” the U.S. Coast Guard tells PEOPLE in a statement
- The USCG has since suspended its search efforts, citing a number of factors including “low likelihood of survival”
A search to find a missing cruise passenger who was believed to have gone overboard earlier this week has been suspended by the U.S. Coast Guard.
In a statement shared with PEOPLE, the USCG said it first received a report that a 72-year-old woman traveling on the Marella Voyager, operated by TUI Group’s Marella Cruises, was missing on the evening of Tuesday, Nov. 10. According to the BBC, the British woman was last seen on board the ship on Monday, Nov. 9.
“The vessel’s crew determined she was unaccounted for after routine cabin service personnel found her cabin and bed untouched and initiated the ship’s missing-person procedures,” the USCG’s statement added. “The Marella Voyager reported the vessel did not have enough fuel to return to the search area.”
It was last confirmed that the woman accessed her cabin door midday on Nov. 9, according to electronic records.
The Coast Guard initiated search efforts immediately after being notified. The “remote” area of where the woman was believed to have gone overboard required “close collaboration among multiple international rescue coordination centers and maritime partners.”
Another challenge was the delay between the woman’s “last known contact and the report made to rescue authorities,” per the Coast Guard. The ship was “approximately 500 nautical miles from the area where she was believed to have entered the water.”
According to the statement, a number of factors led to the decision to suspend the search at 3:47 p.m. local time on Thursday, Nov. 11, including a “low likelihood of survival.”
Additional factors included the “extensive search area” and “negative results from maritime broadcasts and the sea state.”
A Marella Cruises spokesperson told the BBC that the woman’s disappearance has left them “deeply saddened” and that they won’t be “commenting further at this stage” as they support the authorities and the passenger’s family.
PEOPLE has reached out to Marella Cruises for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
VIPs Get More
The Marella Voyager is currently on an 11-night cruise that departed Malaga, Spain, on Wednesday, Nov. 4, and is set to reach its final destination in Barbados on Sunday, Nov. 15, according to CruiseMapper. Also included in its itinerary are stops on St. John’s, Antigua, and Dominica.
According to the cruise line’s website, the ship embarked on its inaugural voyage in June 2023, and it features 14 decks and 956 cabins. It can accommodate approximately 2,000 passengers and 900 crew members.
