A 69-year-old cruise ship passenger has been lost overboard at Glacier Bay National Park/Kurt Repanshek file
Editor's note: An update to this story can be found at this page: Man Overboard For 9 Hours Before Being Reported Missing At Glacier Bay National Park
A 69-year-old passenger of a Holland America cruise ship has been lost overboard at Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve in Alaska.
In a brief news release, the park said Saturday night that it had suspended its search for the man, who was reported missing from Westerdam on Friday. The individual was reported missing at 3:50 p.m. when he did not appear for a medical appointment on board, a park release said.
The Park Service was notified 7:30 Friday evening after a ship-wide search confirmed that the passenger was absent.
Searches for the unidentified passenger were conducted both from Park Service boats and from the air, supported by the U.S. Coast Guard.
The release did not say where along the 65-mile Glacier Bay the man was reported missing, and park staff could not immediately be reached Sunday morning.
This file photo of the Holland America Westerdam was released by the National Park Service.
Comments
Sounds like a passenger with a terminal disease picked the time and place of his own departure from this life. Beautiful spot to move on to the next life!
Passenger,
I was on that cruise too. Everything you stated is fact. I would add a several things.
First, I took a screen shot of the TV in the room with the route we had taken. It was more than just a u turn.
Next, there were photos of him handed out to each crew and security. We saw the photo. Those persons where frantically looking for him They even had maintenance persons looking for him. The Sweep was announced and followed through with.
Third, how did they know it was about 9 hours he was missing? Was it his wife, who didn't report him missing? No. Or was it from onboard video? Every ship has video of every part of the outside is the ship. One can see cameras everywhere.
Fourth, how many spouses go 9 hours without seeing each other on the cruise? If it wasn't for the medical appointment, when would they have learned?
I'm not saying the wife did anything wrong but why didn't she report him missing. What I am saying is that there is so much speculation here from people who have no idea of what goes on with a ship at sea. Look at the videos and that will be the answer. I bet they know the answer and for whatever reason cannot say what happened. That to me says he didn't fall overboard by accident. If he was pushed the videos would show it. And if he was pushed no police were at the Seward port arresting anyone.
The videos know the truth and if he had been pushed they would have seen it and there's basically no way to accidentally fall overboard that ship. We were at glacier bay and two parents let their two children sit on the edge of the ship about 11am and security was there within minutes to instruct them to get those children away from the edge of the ship. The parents were taking photos of the children! It was security who stopped it!
Check the videos.
It has been reported that they have video of him going overboard and know the time it occurred. As others have said, it would have been almost impossible for someone to survive in the cold water long enough to be rescued alive, even if it was reported immediately.
That is true
I wonder if someone gave him a hand.