2023-09-02 21:24:38
Although the ship returned, they did not find him. Cuban authorities were left in charge of the operation.
A search and rescue effort is underway for a 19-year-old passenger on Royal Caribbean’s “Wonder of the Seas” who fell overboard in the Caribbean on Tuesday, according to the cruise line and the passenger’s family.
The ship left Port Canaveral, Florida, on Sunday, August 27, for a 7-day voyage through the western Caribbean, according to an itinerary.
The passenger, Sigmund Ropich, a Texas resident, was on the cruise, his sister Savannah Ropich told CNN.
In a statement on Wednesday, the cruise line said that “the ship’s crew immediately launched a search and rescue operation and is working closely with local authorities.”
It is unknown how long he was in the water before the search began.
Jenna Izzo, a Rhode Island resident, was on the cruise ship when the incident occurred and used a voice recording app to capture the moment the captain told passengers about the search and rescue operation.
“We have a man overboard report. We have reduced the speed of the ship,” the ship’s captain told the passengers over the intercom, according to the voice note Izzo shared with CNN.
“We have turned around and we return to the position we had at that moment. We will begin search and reuse operations with our rescue boat, with our searchlight, with our crew out and about to search and listen for anything.”
Izzo also captured nighttime video showing a rescue team using the ship’s searchlight to search for the missing passenger.
According to Izzo, the cruise ship searched for three hours before continuing on to Grand Cayman.
The Cuban Border Guard is leading the search for Ropich, according to Ropich’s sister and a US Coast Guard spokesperson.
“They (the US Consulate) just contacted us and told us that (the Cuban Border Guard) were going to stop the ocean search and do a coastal and land search,” Ropich’s sister said Friday.
“We just want our brother to be home. They take too long and barely tell us anything,” he said.
CNN has reached out to Cuban Border Guard officials for information, but has yet to hear back.
According to the company, Wonder of the Seas has a capacity for 5,606 guests.
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