A woman sailing onboard MSC Cruises’ ship MSC Meraviglia died after going overboard early Thursday morning, December 15.
The ship was ~18 mi/~30 km off Port Canaveral/Orlando (Florida USA) when the 36-year-old female passenger went overboard at ~5 am, according to guests onboard.
The USCG was immediately notified by the liner and launched a rescue crew by boat and helicopter.
MSC Meraviglia also stayed in the area in order to help search for the passenger.
The body of the woman was located at ~7:30 am.
The victim's identity has not been released.
In a statement, the US Coast Guard said their deepest sympathies went out to the family during that extremely difficult time and they asked for discretion as they notified the family of the tragedy.
MSC Meraviglia was sailing back from a 4-night Bahamas voyage and was scheduled to arrive back in Orlando at ~07:00 a.m. Because of the accident, the ship was delayed by 5+ hours, arriving back at port at ~11:15 am.
On Twitter, Port Canaveral gave an update from MSC to guests who were set to board Meraviglia, telling them to push their arrival back:
“Embarkation for your cruise will be delayed by at least 5 hours due to a guest emergency onboard the previous cruise. Please postpone your arrival at Port Canaveral by 5 hours.”
The voyage was a 3-night Bahamas itinerary that will visit MSC Ocean Cay.
It is due to return on Sunday, December 18th.
For more MSC Meraviglia incidents and accidents see the ship's CruiseMinus page.