BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — For the third time in six years, a passenger fell off the Norwegian Epic as it transported happy vacationers to sites worldwide.
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Two incidents happened near the Bahamas from cruises that began and ended at Port Canaveral. The 51-year-old fell off the coast of Long Island just before 4 p.m., data from the ship showed.
The Holland Americas ship and a third vessel scanned the waters for hours before calling off the search.
“We felt the ship kind of grind to a halt, and we could tell that they were reversing it fairly quickly. So it felt like something was definitely wrong,” Caroline Dees, a passenger on the Epic, said.
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Dees uploaded several videos to her TikTok account that showed crews using a spotlight to scan the water after the sunset.
She spoke to WFTV as the ship docked in Nassau, where it diverted to instead of Norwegian’s private island in part due to the delay the overboard incident caused, Dees said.
“Our ship stayed in one spot,” Dees recalled. “We went back to where the marker, the red flag, had gone down, and we circled around it for a while. Holland Cruise line came back, and they were circling around us.”
The Epic had passengers fall off in both 2018 and 2019.
The 2018 incident involved a female in the Bahamas, resulting in a quick rescue.
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The rescue was one of the rare successes, however.
Data compiled by a cruise liner industry group revealed 212 overboard incidents involving passengers and crew from 2009 to 2019.
Of those, just 48 resulted in a rescue.
A Norwegian spokesperson said the passenger was traveling with a large group.
“His family on board is being attended to and supported during this challenging situation. Our thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones during this difficult time,” the spokesperson wrote.
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The company did not confirm the reason the man fell.
“I feel like everyone was doing all they could,” Dees said. “It was one of those situations where even your best is just not good enough.”
The Epic departed Nassau Friday afternoon. It’s due back in Port Canaveral around 7 a.m. Saturday.
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