Posted on 05/10/2013 7:05:18 AM PDT by JoeProBono
After scouring hundreds of miles of waters off Australia's coast, authorities on Friday called off a search for two cruise ship passengers who are believed to have fallen overboard.
The 30-year-old man and 27-year-old woman were reported missing when the Carnival Cruise ship Spirit docked in Sydney on Thursday morning, CNN affiliate Seven Network reported. The first clue came when they didn't claim their luggage.
Maritime officers reviewed surveillance video from the ship and determined that Paul Rossington and Kristen Schroder went overboard Wednesday night. Authorities believe the couple fell about 150 kilometers (93 miles) off Foster, New South Wales.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
She looks like a younger Hillary Clinton..
No way, no how.
While all the cruise ships I've been on didn't have 10 foot high railings, one would have to go out of their way to "accidentally" fall overboard. You would have to climb somewhere you shouldn't be climbing, or walk to a deck designated only for crew.
I served 20 years in the Navy with 10 years of sea duty, all on aircraft carriers.
They advertised “Join the Navy and see the world.”
I wasn’t informed that 75% of the world is covered by water, and when you’ve seen one sea you’ve seen them all.
My work for the Navy now takes me out overnight on inspections occasionally, enough sea time for me.
I get paid for that sea time, no way in hell am I going to PAY TO GO TO SEA!
I have never seen or heard of a cruise line having so many problems as Carnival.
It’s actually driven prices down bigtime - and not just on Carnival.
As a matter of fact the Royal Caribbean guy was on CNBC blaming Carnival for screwing up the industry and driving prices way down.
My wife and I have booked several cruises for later this year, at big discounts to years past.
Do you mean the number of incidents experienced by Carnival has driven down prices for the industry?
watch who makes insurance claims on the life insurance
I agree never again
Absolutely, in many cases 30 to 50 percent.
Time to design some mechanism with netting that extends about ten feet out surrounding the ships open areas.
She grabs him to keep from falling and splash.
My 70 year old mother got violently ill and they yanked her gall bladder. Four days later, she went on vacation to Hawaii.
Naw... that woman has ankles and actual legs... beastie has stumps and cankles... canklesaurus rex.
LLS
The CCTV footage shows the woman jumping off, followed by the man. It looks to me like she decided to suicide, and he went in after her in an attempt to rescue her. He should have called for help, but in such a situation, without training, panic may have taken over.
Whew.
SYDNEY – Two Australians plunged off a cruise ship into the ocean despite higher-than-required railings to prevent accidental falls, the cruise company said Friday as authorities called off the search for the couple missing for two days.
Surveillance video showed the couple going over the railing about the same time with a brief pause between them, New South Wales Police Superintendent Mark Hutchings said. It was not clear if the man or woman went overboard first, and investigators were having the video enhanced to try to learn if they jumped or fell by accident.
The footage showed the couple were outside their cabin when they fell more than 20 meters (65 feet) from the mid deck Wednesday night, he said. At the time, the Carnival Spirit was about 120 kilometers (65 nautical miles) off the coast of Forster, and they were reported as missing after the ship docked the next morning at Sydney’s Circular Quay after a 10-day journey.
Paramedic Paul Rossington, 30, and his 26-year-old girlfriend Kristen Schroder, both of the town of Barraba in New South Wales state, were on the cruise with seven family and friends.
Police were questioning family, friends and passengers in a bid to find out what happened. “The footage alone won’t tell the whole story,” Hutchings said.
Schroder’s family issued a statement requesting “privacy and understanding while we come to terms with our beautiful girl’s tragic accident.”
Stephen Leahy, head of Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopters, said that if the couple fell accidentally, they could have survived until Friday, noting that the ocean was calm and fairly warm, and describing Rossington, a paramedic for the state ambulance service, as very fit.
“He has a very good understanding ... of survival techniques and his level of fitness will help him,” Leahy told Australian Broadcasting Corp. “He’ll also be able to help his partner. The chances of two young people surviving are very, very good, and certainly from our perspective, we haven’t given up hope.”
The air and sea search covered 4,670 square kilometers (1,360 square nautical miles) of ocean before being called off in failing light Friday without finding any sign of the couple, police said in a statement. The nighttime search had involved heat-seeking infrared equipment, and Hutchings said no life preservers were missing which might have indicated that one of the missing passengers had attempted a rescue.
The railing over which the couple fell was 5 centimeters (2 inches) higher than industry safety regulations mandate, said Ann Sherry, chief executive of Carnival Australia and Carnival Corp.’s representative in the South Pacific region.
“It’s designed really to prevent accidental tripping” overboard, she told reporters.
“We want to make sure that it’s not possible for people to fall overboard or to trip and fall overboard ... so I think it would be highly unlikely, but again, in this case, the police are conducting a full investigation,” she said.
The ship has around 600 surveillance cameras that are constantly monitored, although no one reported seeing the fall at the time. Sherry defended the level of monitoring of passengers aboard the ship that allowed the couple’s fall to go unnoticed. At least four crew were monitoring the ship’s surveillance cameras at any time, she said.
The night Rossington and Schroder vanished, the video surveillance staff was busy watching the public areas of the ship, she said.
“It was the last night of a cruise,” Sherry said. “Virtually everybody else was in the public spaces on the ship, and they’re the areas that we focus on in those times.”
The couple were among 2,680 passengers on a South Pacific cruise. The ship’s last stop was Mare Island in New Caledonia, which it left on Monday, bound for Sydney.
The emergency is the latest high-profile problem for Miami-based Carnival Corp., the world’s largest cruise operator.
Last year, the Costa Concordia ran aground off the coast of Italy, killing 32 people. Also last year, the Costa Allegra caught fire and lost power in the Indian Ocean, leaving passengers without working toilets, running water or air conditioning for three days. Costa is a division of Carnival Corp.
In February, passengers aboard the Carnival Triumph spent five days without power in the Gulf of Mexico after an engine-room fire disabled the vessel. Those on board complained of squalid conditions, including overflowing toilets and food shortages.
WOW! Thanks for the info.
You could not get me on a cruise ship with a crowbar.
—
How about if we used a blow torch and a cattle prod.. ;-}
Wifey and I embark end of the month for 10 days to alaska. its her 40th or so cruise, my 15th or so..
sadly, almost every cruise takes ‘casualties’ , not necessarily the faults of the cruise line, some folks say they want to die cruising and do.. occasionally folks break legs, arms, have heart attacks.. or do stupid things like sitting on the rail of their balcony,, beats me why.. to get a better view, whatever,, this time,, OOops. we always go balcony if we can,,
ern,, princess busted their butts to locate a medication my sis-in-law needed or she would have had to go home early on a 14 days med cruise. I was impressed. the medical facilities they offer these days are pretty darn good. hope your relatives made a full recovery.. and try it again..
Bon appetit!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.