Desperate search under way after Norwegian Epic cruise ship passenger goes overboard

A passenger is missing after falling from the Norwegian Epic cruiser
AFP/Getty Images
Katy Clifton9 June 2019

A desperate search is under way after a passenger fell from a luxury cruise ship in the Mediterranean Sea.

The female passenger fell from the ship on Saturday morning and Norwegian Cruise Line confirmed she "has not yet been found".

A spokeswoman said: “On Saturday morning, a report was made that an adult female guest went overboard while the ship was sailing from Cannes, in France, to Palma de Mallorca, in Spain.

“The authorities were immediately notified and a search and rescue operation ensued. Sadly, the guest has not yet been found.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the individual’s family during this difficult time.”

The cruise ship Norwegian Epic
AFP/Getty Images

Unconfirmed reports suggest that the passenger is an American teenager who was wearing pink pyjamas at the time.

The cruise ship was destined for Palma and the passenger reportedly fell overboard between Mallorca and Menorca.

Emergency services continue to search for the missing passenger and other people on board the Norwegian Epic cruise ship were also asked to help spot her from the deck on Saturday.

Rebekah Sanderlin wrote on Twitter: “I’m on the Norwegian Epic cruise ship in the Mediterranean and we’ve spent all day looking for a passenger who fell overboard last night.

"People are saying it was an American teenage girl.

“Her parents are the ones who alerted the crew that she was missing. Every passenger on the ship has been searching the waters for her for approximately eight hours.

"I think if she was on board she would have been located by now."

A helicopter, a plane and several search and rescue boats were sent out to try and locate the missing passenger.

Speaking to The Sun, Claire Murphy said: “At about 8.30am [staff] announced they were turning round, because someone in pink pyjamas had been seen going overboard, so we had to go back and look for that person.

"Everyone was a bit bewildered. They asked everyone on board to help look for that person, so a lot of people were looking out of the windows or were on the edge of the ship but no one could see anything.

"It took us two hours to get back to the place where they were last seen. We stopped there for four hours to try and find the person.”

The ship had left Cannes on Friday and was due to dock in Palma early on Saturday.