A cruise ship recently returned from a five-day voyage to Mexico. The only problem was that it was one passenger short, and no one knows what happened to him.
A 72-year-old American man is missing. He was traveling on a Princess Cruise ship. Like many passengers, he was soaking in some sunshine this winter by taking a trip down to Mexico. What should have been a fun and uneventful trip has now turned into a modern-day mystery.
At some point during the five days, the man went missing from the cruise ship. Ship workers only realized that he was missing after they returned to California and the man was gone. Now, officials believe that he may have fallen overboard at some point during the trip. It's the running theory for now.
Authorities are launching a search and rescue for the passenger. So far, they haven't released the identity of the missing American man. However, they confirmed that he was traveling on the cruise ship alone. They also fear that he may be dead. The Ruby Princess docked in San Francisco on Monday.
Cruise Ship Passenger Fell Overboard
"Princess worked throughout the day with local authorities. CCTV footage has also been extensively reviewed and the ship was searched thoroughly several times without success," a spokesperson for the cruise line told The New York Post. "Having ruled out other possibilities, this is being treated as a man overboard incident. We extend our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of the guest who was traveling alone."
The cruise ship started its journey for Ensenada in Mexico on Nov. 27. Upon arriving in San Francisco, all of the passengers disembarked. From there, the cruise ship has now also departed on a 16-day voyage to the Hawaiian Islands
U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson Loumania Stewart also weighed in on the search. Stewart said, "The first aircrew was dispatched from Sacramento aboard a C-27 aircraft at about 3 p.m. to search an area about 45 miles off the coast of Monterey. Another Coast Guard crew was sent from San Francisco aboard a helicopter at about 4 p.m."
