A search is under way after the pensioner was last seen on Monday as the ship sailed from Malaga to the Caribbean. The US Coast Guard has asked nearby vessels to keep a sharp lookout.
A 72-year-old British woman is missing from the cruise ship Marella Voyager, which was crossing the Atlantic from Malaga to the Caribbean. She was last seen late on Monday afternoon, according to Britannia Daily. The ship’s crew began an urgent headcount and ship-wide search on Tuesday evening, but she remains missing. The Foreign Office has confirmed she is British. Holiday operator Tui, which runs the vessel, said its security teams are continuing to review CCTV footage.
How the alarm was raised
Britannia Daily understands the alert was first raised on Tuesday evening, after a cabin steward noticed that the woman’s bed had not been slept in the night before. At 7.30pm, a female passenger was asked to report to reception, and the request was repeated ten minutes later.
At around 9pm, passengers were told to go to one of four muster stations around the ship while crew tried to establish whether the woman was still on board. Guests were told to stand in lines of four while staff scanned boarding cards. One crew member told them: “Unfortunately, we do have a missing person. This is the only way we can find out if they’re on board or not.” Another reassured guests: “This is just to check who’s here. Do not move ahead and think we have to leave the ship.” Dinners, drinks and evening entertainment were interrupted.
In a ship-wide announcement on Wednesday evening, the captain, Silviu Mitrea, told passengers the woman was still missing. “I’m sorry to tell you that one of our guests has been reported missing,” he said. He added that the crew had “conducted the relevant searches straight away”, and asked anyone with information to contact guest services.
The search
The 866ft ship has sailed about 550 miles from where the woman may have gone into the sea and will not be able to turn back for her. The US Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Centre in Norfolk, Virginia, has issued an alert asking any ships in the area to “keep a sharp look out”.
The woman has not been publicly identified. The Mail understands efforts are still being made to identify her next of kin. A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We are supporting the family of a British National reported missing on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean and we are in touch with the relevant authorities.” It is not confirmed that she fell overboard.
Rough seas on the voyage
The ship, which carries about 2,000 passengers and 800 crew, left Malaga on 4 November. It was due to reach Antigua on Friday, then call at Dominica and end its voyage in Barbados on Sunday.
Powerful Atlantic storms have battered the 77,302-ton vessel for days, leaving some passengers frightened and others seasick. Strong winds and large waves caused items to crash to the floor as the ship heeled over. One passenger wrote on social media: “[I’ve] never experienced rough seas like this in all the 20 years of cruising. It’s bad.” The passenger said: “We were on deck 11 sitting inside as it was pouring down. We heard this huge bang as if we had hit something. The ship started to go onto its side and we could see the water through the windows.”
Holidaymakers also claimed there had been two medical helicopter evacuations during the cruise and a land-based ambulance call before it left Malaga. “This cruise is cursed,” one said.
Another incident at sea
Separately, on Sunday, a pianist who had performed on Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas was found fighting for his life after spending nearly nine hours treading water in the Pacific. Two Californian fishermen pulled him from the sea about 20 miles off Catalina Island. Investigators are still trying to establish how he ended up in the water. There is no suggestion that the two cases are linked.
