The horrifying moment that an Oasis of the Seas passenger intentionally fell into the ocean was captured on video by another Royal Caribbean passenger. The video shows the passenger dangling from the side of a life boat as frantic crew members and passengers attempted to provide him assistance. However, within moments the man released his hold on the life boat and plummeted into the sea below. Sadly, the U.S. Coast Guard has announced that they are suspending search efforts after searching a 931 square nautical mile area for the missing man.
Warning: The following video contains scenes that some viewers may find disturbing.
In the dramatic video, you can see the unnamed 35-year-old Royal Caribbean passenger from Brazil dangling from a life boat over the open ocean. There was chaos all around the deck as people reached out to grab the man as he clung to the edge of the life boat. However, it appeared that the man did not want help. Instead he told them to let him go. During the video, it appears a man continually called someone a “murderer” and says “you murdered him.” However, no further details on those comments are being made public at this time as the family grieves the loss of the man.
“Get off me. You murdered him. You murdered him.”
Though some reports say it was the man dangling from the life boat making the murder claims, when listening to the video it appears that it is possibly another passenger referring to the man about to go overboard. Another person is heard saying, “Let go of me. Until he is on board I am not going anywhere.” It seems that family members were possibly rushed towards the man and staff were attempting to get them away from the scene to make the rescue. The woman videoing the incident is heard saying, “Stop yelling! Let them work!” However, the yelling doesn’t stop and the man continues to struggle to hang on to the life boat.
Seconds later, the man plummets into the sea below and panic ensues on the ship. People can be heard shouting and screaming as the woman videoing attempts to stop the panic so the man can be saved. She is heard telling the others to stop their panic and throw the life preserver overboard for the man struggling in the sea below.
“He’s there! He’s still there! Stop! Get the life thing! Throw it over!”
The large cruise ship turns back for the man but were unable to pluck him from the sea as it takes large ships such as the Oasis from the Sea nearly an hour to slow and turn back for a lost passenger. NBC Miami reports that passenger Carmen Edelson, a travel blogger with Carmen’s Luxury Travel, was on the ship when the incident occurred. She says that she was awoken from her sleep on Friday when the ship began to turn around. She says someone came onto the loudspeaker to announce that a man had gone overboard . A short time later, crews in lifeboats dropped down to the water as lights shined down from above.
#BreakingNews USCG crews searching for 35-year-old man in the water 80 nm north of Mayaguana, Bahamas.
— USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) November 6, 2015
After the unsuccessful search by Royal Caribbean, the U.S. Coast Guard was called in to support the rescue efforts. Unfortunately, after searching a 941 square nautical mile radius, the search has been called off.
#BreakingNews USCG rescue crews suspend search for missing cruise ship passenger after searching 931 square nautical miles.
— USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) November 7, 2015
Royal Caribbean has reportedly not responded to media requests regarding the incident yet, and the ship has returned to its normal cruise schedule following the incident, according to Edelson.
“Everybody here is trying to have a good time, but in the back of our minds, we’re still thinking about this incident.”
[Image via YouTube screenshot]