Royal Caribbean Passenger Falls Overboard Unnoticed — Man Saved By Passing Disney Cruise Line Ship

A passenger sailing on Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas fell overboard on Thursday morning, and it went completely unnoticed by anyone on the ship. The Disney Magic, of the Disney Cruise Line fleet, was sailing the exact same route, and was able to rescue the man after he was noticed by someone aboard that ship.

The Milenio reported an American tourist by the name of Frank Jade was on the Royal Caribbean ship and headed for Cozumel when the incident happened. The ship was approximately eight miles from the cruise ports in Cozumel, Mexico, at the time he fell overboard.

The Disney Magic was sailing the same route, and someone noticed Jade floating in the water as the Royal Caribbean continued on.

As they approached Jade in the water, the Disney Cruise Line ship lowered a rescue boat into the water and were able to pick him up. The crew took him on board, and the Disney Magic docked at Punta Langsota so Jade could be transferred to a private clinic for medical care.

Frank Jade is said to be in stable condition without any serious injuries.

According to Law Blogs, the Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas didn’t even realize that a passenger had fallen overboard. As Jim Walker states, this is a huge blow to the cruise line.

“It should be a major embarrassment that a passenger can go overboard without Royal Caribbean detecting it lost a passenger at sea.”

Jade states that he was up early on Thursday morning and had walked up to one of the open decks of the Oasis of the Seas. He said that a large wave ended up knocking him off of the 225,300 ton ship and into the water.

Reports state that Royal Caribbean has not made an effort to comply with the 2010 Cruise Vessel Safety and Security Act. That act requires installation of automatic man overboard systems that obviously are not in place on Oasis of the Seas.

Jade said that he began thinking that he wouldn’t be able to stay alive long once he had fallen into the water. He was shocked that no one had noticed he had gone overboard, and that he was just floating out there.

As the Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas moved on, Jade began thinking he was not going to survive. It was not until he saw the Disney Cruise Line ship that he knew he would be alright, and someone had come to his safety and rescue.

[Image via Disney]