Husband’s horror: Desperate search after wife falls overboard on cruise ship
A desperate search is underway for a cruise ship passenger knocked overboard, after a freak wave struck the top deck of P&O’s Pacific Dawn.
News.com.au reports a crew member saw the woman, who had apparently gone outside to vomit as she was seasick, fall off the side of the ship about 4pm AEST yesterday afternoon.
Her husband, who also saw the fall, immediately went into shock.
Life rings were thrown into the water, but to no avail.
“A crew member notified the bridge straight away and the ‘man overboard’ incident response was activated immediately,” said David Jones, a spokesman for the ship’s owner P & O.
“In line with this response, Pacific Dawn turned around to follow the course it was on at the time of the incident.”
The Australian Maritime Safety Bureau and New Caledonian authorities reportedly issued a call for help, but there were no rescue boats in the immediate vicinity.
“It would take days for anyone to reach the area it’s so remote,” the spokeswoman said.
As the ship trawled around the area, passenger Jon Trevithick posted a picture on Twitter of a lone rescue ring in the sea.
“Horrendous here on ship,” he wrote.
“Ship going round and round searching”.
“We have been told very little,” he tweeted. “I didn’t know it was a woman. It happened around 5pm. I was on deck and heard someone cry, ‘man overboard’. The ship ground to a halt which took a while, of course. It turned around and found the (possibly 2nd) lifebuoy (pictured).
“Not looking good. Nightfall now. Ship still searching.”
Another passenger told ABC Online news of the incident was relayed over the ship’s speakers.
"It came over the speakers straight away that a person was overboard," the passenger said.
"We are hearing lots of different stories from other passengers on the ship. We were all moved inside.
"Nearly an hour ago they updated us over the speakers and said they were still searching and will continue to search.
"No luck as of yet."
UPDATE: Yahoo 7 reports the captain of the Pacific Dawn near New Caledonia has made a sad announcement that the woman who fell overboard hasn’t been found, and the ship will be heading back to Brisbane.
"It is with a very heavy heart that I need to let you know that we have been unable to locate our guest," the captain of the Dawn Pacific told passengers on Friday morning.
"We are still in the area of the incident, and the weather conditions with the swell three to four metres high, as you can see outside, the strong wind made our search extremely challenging.
"As a result, we have now made the extremely difficult decision to continue our journey towards Brisbane.
"I know I speak on behalf of all of you when I say our thoughts and prayers are with the family."
Our thoughts are with the passenger and her family.