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Navigator of the Seas March 5, 2016 Passenger Falls Overboard


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It is never nice to see this kind of news from any cruise ship. But it does happen and should be reported and comment on.  We see these wonderful ships that Royal and other build and operate and sometimes lose track of the truth that they are still ships in very large oceans, safety should always be on passengers minds.

 

The reports say the passenger, a 46 year old man from Texas fell off the cabin balcony from the 10th deck, about 100 feet to the water. Cruise travel is very safe, but being careful and thinking about your situations is very important. As of now the passenger is still missing so while we can hope it does not look good.

 

http://abcnews.go.com/US/coast-guard-searches-missing-royal-caribbean-ship-passenger/story?id=37428928

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I agree with some other posters I've read elsewhere that to say "fall overboard" is inaccurate. It implies that the incident happened merely as an accident when in the cases I can imagine, it requires some sort of human intervention to overcome the obstacles that are put in our way for safety.

 

I really like

for his attempt to allay the fears of those who take the news reports of people "falling overboard" too literally.
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"I agree with some other posters I've read elsewhere that to say "fall overboard" is inaccurate."

 

The USCG press release says fell overboard.  So to say the official agency in charge is wrong and quote a U Tube video, that seems to be inaccurate. But if you want to look into inaccurate information please explain why the information from Royal says:

 

Royal Caribbean released the followings statement:
 
"On Friday, March 4, 2016, at approximately 10:55 p.m., a guest onboard Navigator of the Seas reported that they had witnessed another guest going overboard from their stateroom balcony. A review of the ship’s closed-circuit camera footage observed a 46-year-old male guest from the U.S. going overboard from deck 10."
 
Passenger goes overboard at 10:55pm  and the ship does not report this to the Coast Guard until over four hours later?  The important fact here is not how or why it happen.  But why it took so long to tell the group who can best handle the situation and try to recover this soul, over 4 hours.  If the ship has a emergency do you really want them waiting hours to tell the Coast Guard?  
 
The Coast Guard has a fleet of rescue aircraft and ships and is the best chance for rescue this close to shore. Or look at it this way if you are overboard off any ship miles from shore do you want the ships crew to wait hours before calling for your rescue?   

 

 

Here is the press release from the USCG

 

March 05, 2016


 

Contact: 7th Coast Guard District

Email: [email protected]

Office: (305) 415-6683

COAST GUARD SEARCHING FOR MAN WHO FELL FROM CRUISE SHIP

MIAMI — Coast Guard search-and-rescue crews are searching for a 46-year-old man who fell from a cruise ship off the coast of Key Largo, Florida, Saturday morning.

Missing is David Mossman, 46, from Texas.

Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Key West received a report from the crew aboard the Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas at approximately 3 a.m. of Mossman who fell approximately 100 feet from the 10th deck of the cruise ship into the water 36 nautical miles south of Carysfort Reef Light. An Urgent Marine Information Broadcast was issued and the Coast Guard Cutter Gannet was launched to begin searching for Mossman. A Coast Guard Air Station Miami MH-65 helicopter and a HC-144 aircraft were launched to begin searching as well.

Currently, Coast Guard search-and-rescue crews have searched 946 square nautical miles and plan to search through out the night.

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I think the point Marc is making is that these arnt accidents. He must of been messing around or met foul play.

These media reports tend to leave people thinking cruising is unsafe, which isn't fair IMO.

Again look past the person going overboard. It took Royal over four hours to report to the Coast Guard that it happen. Even if the person jumped of the ship do you really believe Royal did the right thing here for safety by waiting over four hours? 

 

Jerel post says "These media reports tend to leave people thinking cruising is unsafe, which isn't fair IMO"  Can you really believe it is safe to wait over four hours before calling for help? 

 

Right now we do not know what happen, anything could have happen,  no one has completed a investigation, no one can say it was or was not a accident. The Investigation will take several months and then it will be published and we will know the results. But now we can ask why did Royal took over four hours to report something the should have been reported in minutes?

 

When the Costa Concordia ran aground that ship also did not provide timely information to the authorities. How many of the 32 lives lost could have been saved with fast reporting? Cruise Ships hold people lives in their charge, the most important thing is the safety of the souls on board, not profit, corporate image, or officers jobs. 

 

 When talking about lives entrusted to any captain  the standard must be the highest and best at all times..... A four hour wait does not accomplish that.

 

Below is the time line for the Costa Concordia from the official report:

 

 At 2142 contact with rock formations on the bottom in the immediate vicinity of

Giglio port.

 

At 2206 on 13 January 2012PM  MRSC Livorno entered the “Alert phase†through the receipt via

the Carabinieri at of a call from relatives of a passenger on board. 

 

At 2210 the ITCG established radio contact with the ship and enquired about the situation on

board making reference to the information received earlier. However, the reply from the ship was

that the ship had a blackout with no mention of any danger. 

 

At 2226 the captain of the Costa Concordia advised the MRSC that the ship was taking in water

and was listing. 

 

At  2234 hrs the MRSC contacted the ship once again since it was discovered that the list of the ship

was increasing.At this point, even though the Captain of the Costa Concordia had still not declared “Distressâ€, the

MRSC scrambled all available

assets in the area. 

 

At 2248hrs the Captain of the Costa Concordia asked the MRSC for tug assistance. 

 

At 2258hrs on further solicitation by the MRSC, the Captain of the ship informed that the Abandon

ship order had been given

 

At 2310hrs The OSC reported that the first lifeboats were lowered into the sea with the first

evacuees

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It is completely possible that the report was o the ship's personnel was not made immediately. Thus, they didn't review the video footage until after the report was made. It is also possible that standard maritime procedures are to confirm the incident before report or to begin a search first and then alert the authorities.

 

At this point, though, any speculation is pointless until more facts are known, although I do agree with others that the implication is that one can easily or accidental fall overboard which is very difficult to do.

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I think the point Marc is making is that these arnt accidents.

This is exactly my thinking. To simply report that a man "fell overboard" makes people think that it's possible to slip and fall (as demonstrated in the Youtube video) and end up in the water, left behind as the cruise ship continues to sail on without you.

 

To quote a commercial:

3risbcx.jpg

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I had to respond to this post, as I was on this ship when this sad event occurred.

 

Again look past the person going overboard. It took Royal over four hours to report to the Coast Guard that it happen. Even if the person jumped of the ship do you really believe Royal did the right thing here for safety by waiting over four hours? 

 

When the captain came on the public address to announce that someone had gone overboard (11pm), he said that he was turning the ship around to begin the search until the Coast Guard could arrive on scene. Many, many people went up on deck as he requested to put as many eyes as possible on the water to search, but to no avail. It was less than 2 hours (about 90 minutes, I believe) until the helicopter was able to arrive and participate in the search. The ship stayed on site for about 4 hours before the captain turned back to head into Fort Lauderdale. 

 

Even when we reached port, we did not know the identity of the person who was missing, nor the circumstances of his going overboard. 

The captain and the crew acted quickly and efficiently, in my view. The crew was clearly as shaken by the event as were the passengers, but maintained their professionalism. 

 

Just a perspective from someone who was actually there. 

Prayers of comfort and strength to his family and friends.

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I had to respond to this post, as I was on this ship when this sad event occurred.

 

 

When the captain came on the public address to announce that someone had gone overboard (11pm), he said that he was turning the ship around to begin the search until the Coast Guard could arrive on scene. Many, many people went up on deck as he requested to put as many eyes as possible on the water to search, but to no avail. It was less than 2 hours (about 90 minutes, I believe) until the helicopter was able to arrive and participate in the search. The ship stayed on site for about 4 hours before the captain turned back to head into Fort Lauderdale.

 

Even when we reached port, we did not know the identity of the person who was missing, nor the circumstances of his going overboard.

The captain and the crew acted quickly and efficiently, in my view. The crew was clearly as shaken by the event as were the passengers, but maintained their professionalism.

 

Just a perspective from someone who was actually there.

Prayers of comfort and strength to his family and friends.

Thank you for sharing your experience. It's always good to get first hand information about an incident and I'm glad the captain reacted timely and got everyone involved in the search.

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Todd, it did not take royal caribbean 4 hrs to contact the coast guard. The coast Guard helicopter was there on site searching by 1239 am which was only 1 and a half hours after the man went overboard. So to say they waited 4 hrs to contact the coast Guard is completely false.

 

I'm just going by the statement of time released by Royal and the Press Release from the Coast Guard. Royal says

 

""On Friday, March 4, 2016, at approximately 10:55 p.m., a guest onboard Navigator of the Seas reported that they had witnessed another guest going overboard from their stateroom balcony."

 

The Coast Guard Press Release says: 

 

"Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Key West received a report from the crew aboard the Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas at approximately 3 a.m."

 

These are the reported facts from Royal and the Coast Guard.  I will stand by the post as a true and accurate report of the statements from Royal and the Coast Guard. Now we may later find that one or both of these parties have reported the wrong information. But they are the stated reports as of now no retractions have been done.

 

What is wrong is people poster here without facts saying:

 

"I've read elsewhere that to say "fall overboard" is inaccurate. It implies that the incident happened merely as an accident when in the cases I can imagine, it requires some sort of human intervention to overcome the obstacles that are put in our way for safety."

 

"I think the point Marc is making is that these arnt accidents. He must of been messing around or met foul play. 

These media reports tend to leave people thinking cruising is unsafe"

 

"I think the point Marc is making is that these arnt accidents."

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These are the reported facts from Royal and the Coast Guard.  I will stand by the post as a true and accurate report of the statements from Royal and the Coast Guard. Now we may later find that one or both of these parties have reported the wrong information. But they are the stated reports as of now no retractions have been done.

Maybe you should look at the USCG's latest update:

On Friday at approximately 11 p.m., watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Key West received a report from the crew aboard the Navigator of the Seas that Mossman fell nearly 100 feet from the 10th deck of the cruise ship into the water 36 nautical miles south of Carysfort Reef Light.

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Maybe you should look at the USCG's latest update:

 

At the time I posted the information based upon the official information from Royal and the Coast Guard, that was the only information available from them. I was 100% correct in the reporting of the information at that time. Because of updates they reported information maybe was not accurate. But I make no apologizes for reporting the best information available at the time.

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Yeah there is several threads on cruise critic, some of which were started by passengers that were on the ship at the time.  They were basically reporting live about seeing the helicopter searching etc.  It was definitely not 3am by the time it was reported to the coast guard, as people on board were reporting the helicopters searching already well before then.  Definitely false info from the coast guard release.  

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I will agree with some of the folks here and say the notion someone can fall overboard a ship completely accidentally without there being any foul play, horsing around and/or significant inebriation is just plain silly to me.  

 

Most guard rails come up to at least my chest and on many occasions, I cannot fathom how one could be minding their own business and slip and fall overboard, like something out of a Scooby Doo cartoon.

 

Let's face it: people do really, really dumb things.  There are a lot of emotionally unstable folks out there, and there is a large distinction between "falling" and "jumping".  It's very difficult to tell the difference without knowing the person's state of mind, but I have no doubt that it is close to impossible to be enjoying oneself onboard and then suddenly fall overboard.  

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Looks like Royal will be found not responsible in this case while the official reports are still far away it looks like this passenger had troubles. Royal does not need more negative press, this should now be in the past.

 

http://www.inquisitr.com/2864437/man-falls-off-cruise-ship-and-is-lost-at-sea-david-mossman-argued-with-mom-before-fall/

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I was also on board when this took place. The helicopter was on the scene by 12:30am. Many passengers along with the crew searched the water for hours until the Coast Guard took over and told the ship to continue on to Ft. Lauderdale. What I haven't seen is anyone saying about the dozens and dozens of lighted life preservers that Royal Caribbean tossed out in the pitch black hoping the passenger would see them. Other news articles are reporting that this passenger was arguing with the person they were traveling with. Falling is pretty much impossible unless you have help or decide to go over on your own.

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What I haven't seen is anyone saying about the dozens and dozens of lighted life preservers that Royal Caribbean tossed out in the pitch black hoping the passenger would see them. 

 

The Throwing of the life preservers is standard under SOLAS (International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea). It is not only in hopes of the person seeing them but allows for the tracking of movement due to winds and currents. As the vest spread out it shows a pattern and aids with the area to search. You need to remember even if the Captain was standing on the bridge and watch it happen, the ship was moving along at cruising speed. It takes a couple of miles to stop a cruise ship underway,  to stop and to turn around even without other ship traffic takes time and distance. As soon as the bridge knew this happen the bridge would have marked the ships position and time. And throw markers overboard, which can later be used to track drift rates and current. 

 

The crew can get the ship back to the same spot were the passenger went over (or where it was when notified).  But the current winds and tide will have moved the lost soul to another location. I have tied to recover a baseball cap that went overboard on a small pleasure boat during the day. Even in a small boat that can turn around in less than a minute if you lose sight of that cap when you get back to the spot you will not be able to find it most of the time. Now change it to a supersized cruise ship, at night, in traffic, and with weather, etc, under these circumstances the result is almost always the same.

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  • 4 weeks later...

The Throwing of the life preservers is standard under SOLAS (International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea). It is not only in hopes of the person seeing them but allows for the tracking of movement due to winds and currents. As the vest spread out it shows a pattern and aids with the area to search. You need to remember even if the Captain was standing on the bridge and watch it happen, the ship was moving along at cruising speed. It takes a couple of miles to stop a cruise ship underway,  to stop and to turn around even without other ship traffic takes time and distance. As soon as the bridge knew this happen the bridge would have marked the ships position and time. And throw markers overboard, which can later be used to track drift rates and current. 

 

The crew can get the ship back to the same spot were the passenger went over (or where it was when notified).  But the current winds and tide will have moved the lost soul to another location. I have tied to recover a baseball cap that went overboard on a small pleasure boat during the day. Even in a small boat that can turn around in less than a minute if you lose sight of that cap when you get back to the spot you will not be able to find it most of the time. Now change it to a supersized cruise ship, at night, in traffic, and with weather, etc, under these circumstances the result is almost always the same.

Captain Obvious 

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