Coast Guard searching off Fla. for man who jumped from Carnival cruise ship

Don Jacobson
·2 min read
UPI
A 30-year-old man who jumped off the Carnival Elation (pictured) on Sunday is the subject of a search in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida. File Photo by Guillaume huger/Wikimedia Commons

July 24 (UPI) -- The Coast Guard says it is searching for a man who went overboard from a Carnival Cruise Line ship in the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast during the weekend.

The USCG Seventh District Southeast command based in Miami said the 30-year-old man went overboard from the Carnival Elation early on Sunday while it was positioned about 95 nautical miles east of Melbourne, Fla.

Coast Guard officials said in a tweet issued Monday an active search-and-rescue mission is underway in the area with crews from air stations in Miami and Clearwater, Fla., participating, as well as the Coast Guard Cutter Tarpon.

The cruise line said it has become apparent the missing man deliberately jumped off the ship as it was returning to its base in Jacksonville, Fla.

"The crew was notified by his traveling companion late in the afternoon about his missing status after he had not been seen all day," Carnival Cruise Line Senior Manager of Public Relations Matt Lupoli said in a statement issued to media outlets.

"Sadly, after an exhaustive on-board search and a review of security camera video it was determined that he jumped."

The apparent suicide comes two months after another man also went overboard from a Carnival ship off the coast of Florida.

Ronnie Peale, 35, of Crimora, Va., went missing from the Carnival Magic over the Memorial Day weekend as the ship sailed back to its home port of Norfolk, Va., from the Bahamas. After searching more than 5,000 square miles east of Jacksonville, the Coast Guard's Seventh District ultimately suspended the effort.

Security footage showed Peale leaning over the railing of his room's balcony and before falling into the water.

A 2020 research paper published in the International Journal of Travel Medicine and Global Health found that between 2000 and 2019 there were 623 reported deaths of passengers and crew abord cruise ships. Some 19% of the passenger deaths during that period were caused by suicide, murder or terrorist attacks, the authors found.

The most passenger deaths occurred on Carnival Cruise Line (29%), Royal Caribbean Cruises (12%) and Norwegian Cruise Line (10%).

If you or someone you know is suicidal, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.