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Rogue Wave Strikes Cruise Ship, Killing a Passenger and Injuring 4 Others

The passengers were hurt after a large, unpredictable wave hit the ship, which was traveling toward the Antarctic, Viking Cruises said.

By Amanda Holpuch

A passenger died and four others were injured after a large, unexpected wave hit a cruise ship traveling toward a popular launching point for expeditions to Antarctica, Viking Cruises said.

The ship, the Viking Polaris, was struck by a “rogue wave” on Tuesday at 10:40 p.m. local time while traveling toward Ushuaia, Argentina, which is on the southern tip of South America, Viking Cruises said in a statement .

Viking Cruises did not say how the passenger was killed or provide the passenger’s name. The four passengers who were injured were treated by onboard medical staff and had non-life-threatening injuries, Viking Cruises said.

A State Department official said that a U.S. citizen died and that the department was offering consular assistance to the person’s family.

Rogue waves are unpredictable, typically twice the size of surrounding waves and often come from a different direction than the surrounding wind and waves, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . Scientists are still trying to figure out how and when these uncommon waves form.

Ann Mah, of Topeka, Kan., told the news station WIBW that she and her husband were on the ship when it was hit by the wave and that it was “just like your whole house got shook really hard.”

“I mean, it was just a thud,” Ms. Mah said.

The Viking Polaris was launched this year and was designed for travel to remote destinations such as the Antarctic Peninsula. The ship is 665 feet long and can carry 378 passengers and 256 crew members.

The ship sustained “limited damage” from the wave and arrived in Ushuaia the day after it was struck, Viking Cruises said.

The cruise company canceled the Viking Polaris’s next scheduled trip, a 13-day cruise to the Antarctic Peninsula.

“We are investigating the facts surrounding this incident and will offer our support to the relevant authorities,” the company said.

Tourism to the Antarctic has steadily increased in the last 30 years, with 74,401 people traveling there in the 2019-20 season, according to the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators. Roughly 6,700 people traveled there in the 1992-93 season, according to the association.

In recent years, some observers have warned that the increase in tourism may not be sustainable and that it could threaten visitor safety or disrupt the fragile environment, which is already straining under the effects of climate change.

It is the beginning of the Antarctic tourism season, which coincides with its summer, beginning in late October or early November and usually lasting until March.

The death on the Viking Cruises ship this week comes after the death of two other cruise ship passengers in the Antarctic last month. Two Quark Expeditions cruise ship passengers died after one of the ship’s heavy duty inflatable Zodiac boats overturned near shore, Seatrade Cruise News reported .

Amanda Holpuch is a general assignment reporter. More about Amanda Holpuch

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10 years later, Costa Concordia survivors share their stories from doomed cruise ship

Ten years after the deadly Costa Concordia cruise line disaster in Italy, survivors still vividly remember scenes of chaos they say were like something straight out of the movie "Titanic."

NBC News correspondent Kelly Cobiella caught up with a group of survivors on TODAY Wednesday, a decade after they escaped a maritime disaster that claimed the lives of 32 people. The Italian cruise ship ran aground off the tiny Italian island of Giglio after striking an underground rock and capsizing.

"I think it’s the panic, the feeling of panic, is what’s carried through over 10 years," Ian Donoff, who was on the cruise with his wife Janice for their honeymoon, told Cobiella. "And it’s just as strong now."

More than 4,000 passengers and crew were on board when the ship crashed into rocks in the dark in the Mediterranean Sea, sending seawater rushing into the vessel as people scrambled for their lives.

The ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, had been performing a sail-past salute of Giglio when he steered the ship too close to the island and hit the jagged reef, opening a 230-foot gash in the side of the cruise liner.

Passengers struggled to escape in the darkness, clambering to get to the life boats. Alaska resident Nate Lukes was with his wife, Cary, and their four daughters aboard the ship and remembers the chaos that ensued as the ship started to sink.

"There was really a melee there is the best way to describe it," he told Cobiella. "It's very similar to the movie 'Titanic.' People were jumping onto the top of the lifeboats and pushing down women and children to try to get to them."

The lifeboats wouldn't drop down because the ship was tilted on its side, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded on the side of the ship for hours in the cold. People were left to clamber down a rope ladder over a distance equivalent to 11 stories.

"Everybody was rushing for the lifeboats," Nate Lukes said. "I felt like (my daughters) were going to get trampled, and putting my arms around them and just holding them together and letting the sea of people go by us."

Schettino was convicted of multiple manslaughter as well as abandoning ship after leaving before all the passengers had reached safety. He is now serving a 16-year prison sentence .

It took nearly two years for the damaged ship to be raised from its side before it was towed away to be scrapped.

The calamity caused changes in the cruise industry like carrying more lifejackets and holding emergency drills before leaving port.

A decade after that harrowing night, the survivors are grateful to have made it out alive. None of the survivors who spoke with Cobiella have been on a cruise since that day.

"I said that if we survive this, then our marriage will have to survive forever," Ian Donoff said.

Scott Stump is a trending reporter and the writer of the daily newsletter This is TODAY (which you should subscribe to here! ) that brings the day's news, health tips, parenting stories, recipes and a daily delight right to your inbox. He has been a regular contributor for TODAY.com since 2011, producing features and news for pop culture, parents, politics, health, style, food and pretty much everything else. 

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Cruise ship still docked in San Francisco after hitting pier

Ruby Princess' estimated departure is now Sunday, according to officials.

The Ruby Princess cruise ship that startled sleeping San Francisco residents Thursday morning when it collided with a pier while docking won't likely depart until Sunday, officials said.

"Repairs are underway and our technical experts estimate that repairs are likely to take upwards of 24 hours," said Princess Cruises on Friday, giving an estimated departure time of Sunday at 4 p.m. PT.

The ship was returning from a 10-day cruise to Alaska, which had 3,328 guests and 1,159 crew members on board, none of whom were injured and all safely deboarded, according to Princess Cruises.

The damage done to the vessel did not slow down new passengers from boarding at 4 p.m. PT, set to embark on the next 10-day cruise. As of Friday afternoon, 4 p.m. locally, the ship was still docked, according to a live shot from ABC affiliate KGO.

Following an inspection from the U.S. Coast Guard, Ruby Princess will be cleared to sail once all damage from Thursday has been fully repaired, according to the cruise line.

According to the cruise line, there are over 3,000 guests currently boarded, who are being given the option to cancel and receive "a 100% refund of their cruise fare, post-cruise hotel packages and transfers booked through Princess, prepaid shore excursions and other prepaid items and taxes, fees and port expenses."

While also being given a 50% voucher for a future cruise, guests are being given the option to decide by Sunday at 11 a.m. PT, and in the meantime, they are free to come and go from the cruise ship to explore San Francisco.

MORE: 1 dead, 2 missing after barge crashes into boat on Ohio River

Guests who do decide to stay aboard and embark on a now 7-day journey to Alaska, will receive a partial refund of 75%.

The collision was so loud, residents told KGO that they could hear the impact and they were awoken by the sounds of the crew scrambling.

MORE: 2 firefighters die while battling blaze aboard ship in New Jersey

Witnesses said the dock took the brunt of the damage from the crash.

The Coast Guard is investigating the incident, according to police. A spokesperson for the San Francisco Bar Pilots group told ABC News in a statement that it is cooperating with the investigation.

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The 9 Worst Cruise Ship Disasters

The Titanic may be the most famous ship disaster, but surprisingly, it’s not even close to being the deadliest wreck that ever occurred on a luxury liner. If you’re trying to dissuade someone from taking a cruise, you should show them this list of maritime misadventures presented in no particular order. Disclaimer: The vast majority of cruises sail without incident and are safe and not filled with poop. (Oh yeah, we’ll get there.) Get your plate ready for a buffet of high-seas horror.

1. RMS Titanic

F.G.O. Stuart (1843-1923) {{PD-old}} /Wikimedia Commons

The many experts in 1912 who considered the Titanic “unsinkable” were to be proven wrong on the boat’s maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. Thomas Andrews had designed the ship to withstand head-on collisions and rammings from other ships. However, the North Atlantic Ocean iceberg that took down the vessel scraped through five of its 16 watertight compartments. The boat would have reportedly remained afloat if it had only gone through four. Like other systems at the time, the Titanic's lifeboats were designed to shepherd passengers to nearby rescue ships, not take them to shore. Unfortunately, help was many hours away in the wee hours of April 15 when the boat was going under. The poor crew organization also caused many lifeboats to leave the ship at far less than full capacity. Plus, they only had enough boats for about a third of the onboard. As a result, more than 1,500 people died — either on the ship or in the icy waters, waiting for help. A recent theory suggests a fire that started in the hull before the ship set sail weakened the vessel’s steel walls, making it susceptible to an iceberg that normally wouldn’t have caused as much damage.

2. Eastern Star’s Dongfang zhi Xing

In 2015, Dongfang zhi Xing was traveling on the Yangtze River in China when a thunderstorm struck, and the boat capsized. Ships in the area were warned that bad storms were coming and told to take precautions, but it is unclear if the Dongfang zhi Xing ever received the warnings and continued to sail. The ship was met with winds of up to 72-85 mph, and ultimately, a downburst (a strong downward wind) caused the ship to capsize and sink. Out of the 454 people on board, only 12 survived, making the total number of dead 442.

3. Carnival Cruise Line’s Triumph

DVIDSHUB/Flickr

A generator fire on Carnival Cruise Lines’s Triumph (now called Carnival Sunrise) left the ship powerless, and a late-night comedy punchline was born: “The Poop Cruise.” Without working bathrooms, passengers were forced to drop their payloads into red “hazardous waste” bags and stuff them into garbage cans left in the hall. Passengers described carpets soaked with more than two inches of raw sewage. News reports described the scene as a “shanty town” and a “new circle of hell.” One passenger reportedly called her husband and told him that their 12-year-old daughter had Skittles for breakfast. It took four days for the Triumph to be towed from the Gulf of Mexico to Mobile, Alabama, where it was possible to smell the ship from the dock. Later, 31 passengers claimed long-lasting damage, including PTSD, and sued. After the verdict, 27 of them split $118,000, many earning less than $3,000 (minus legal fees) for their troubles.

4. Costa Concordia

European Commission DG ECHO/Flickr

One of the biggest passenger ships ever wrecked, the Costa Concordia had 17 decks, six restaurants, a three-story theater, and enough room for 4,200 vacationers. On January 13, 2012, Captain Francesco Schettino agreed to a request by the ship’s chief maître d’, Antonello Tievoli, and sailed closer to Isola del Giglio than normal. Why? Tievoli, a native of Giglio, wanted to impress and “salute” local residents. Unfortunately, Captain Schettino turned off the ship’s alarm for the computer navigation system and later admitted he thought he knew the waters well enough to navigate by sight. However, the ship’s first mate testified that the captain had left his glasses in his cabin and requested them. The Costa Concordia struck an underwater rock, capsized, and sank, killing 32 passengers. Schettino’s worst maritime sin? He abandoned the ship with 300 passengers still onboard. A Coast Guard officer in contact with the ship at the time of the sinking claimed he told Schettino to get back onboard. After being convicted of manslaughter and pursuing several appeals, Schettino only started his 16-year prison sentence in May of 2017. The salvage effort (the ship was completely dismantled) was the largest effort of its kind.

5. SS Eastland

Launched in 1903, the SS Eastland was a passenger ship based in Chicago and used for tours. Although the ship had noted listing (tilting) since its inception and some measures had been taken to rectify this, the SS Eastland was still suffering from being top-heavy when boarding for a cruise in 1915. The ship was meant to sail from Chicago to Michigan City, Indiana, carrying workers from Western Electric Company’s Hawthorne Works for a picnic. On July 24, 2,572 passengers boarded, with many congregating on the open upper decks. While still docked, the ship began to list to the port side, and reportedly, at some point, more passengers rushed to the port side, causing the ship to roll onto its side completely. Despite the river’s bottom being just 20 feet below and the shore being about the same distance, a total of 844 passengers and crew members died, including 22 entire families.

6. Royal Pacific

When the Royal Pacific was first launched as a passenger ferry in 1964, it could carry 250 passengers, 91 cars, and 16 trucks. Sold and converted into a cruise ship in the late 1980s, the boat’s maiden voyage was a two-night “cruise to nowhere” from Singapore and sailed by Phuket, Malacca, and Penang before returning home. At around 2 a.m., when most passengers were asleep, the crew heard a loud bang, and the plates on the buffet table crashed to the ground. A Taiwanese trawler, Terfu 51, had accidentally rammed the ship, leaving a six-foot gash in the side. As the trawler pulled away, there was a deafening sound of metal scraping against metal. The PA system wasn’t working properly on the boat, but the safety officer ran downstairs to survey the damage. When he returned, he told everyone to put on their life jackets. Reports vary about how many passengers were impacted — most tallies number 30 dead and 70 injured. Several passengers also complained that a mix of Greek-, English- and Mandarin-speaking crew members led to few people understanding what anyone was saying.

7. SS Morro Castle

The story of the SS Morro Castle is so dreadful it’s surprising no Hollywood producer has turned the tale into a horror movie. Director Fritz Lang collaborated on a script about the tragedy, and named it “Hell Afloat” (which is a pretty apt description), but it was never made. Between 1930 and 1934, the SS Morro Castle regularly shuttled 480-plus passengers between Havana and New York. While onboard, there was no Depression to worry about and no Prohibition, which meant plenty of booze-filled partying. However, the September 1934 return sail from Cuba to the Big Apple seemed cursed. On September 7, Captain Robert Wilmott complained of stomach trouble after eating dinner and retired to his cabin, where he later died of an apparent heart attack. Chief Officer William Warms took command, and a few hours later, around 3 a.m. on September 8, a fire started in one of the storage lockers. The crew’s attempts to fight the fire were haphazard and inadequate, and soon, the blaze couldn’t be contained. Many crew members abandoned the ship, leaving confused passengers to fend for themselves in the dark, smoky hallways. Some jumped from the deck to their death in the water. Rescuers lined up on the Jersey Shore to meet the lifeboats carrying passengers. The next morning, the burning, black hull of the SS Morro Castle ran aground at Asbury Park, New Jersey. Of the 549 people aboard the cruise, 86 guests and 49 crew members died.

8. Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas

A cruise can be an oasis of calm in rough waters, but it’s also a petri dish of disease where viruses ricochet from passenger to passenger. In 2014, the Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas cruise from New Jersey to the Caribbean earned the dubious honor of being the ship with more sick passengers than any other boat trip since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started keeping statistics more than 20 years ago. An estimated 700 passengers and crew members were sick at some point. Most cruise ship illnesses result from norovirus, that causes inflammation of the stomach and large intestines and regular trips to the “head.” If you’re wondering how to stay healthy on a cruise with sick passengers, plenty of handwashing (and avoiding ill people) is key. Bugs pass quickly through contact with ship railings, bathroom doors, and buffet food.

9. MTS Oceanos

Built by a French company and first launched in 1952, the MTS Oceanos was purchased by a Greek company in 1976. On August 3, 1991, Oceanos set sail for East London, South Africa, and headed north for Durban, led by Captain Yiannis Avranas. The ship reportedly headed into 40-knot winds and 30-foot swells, and thus, the typical sail-away outdoor deck party with British entertainers Moss and Tracy Hills was moved to an indoor lounge. The sea conditions worsened that night, leading to the ship rolling from side to side, and eventually, an explosion was heard due to a lack of repairs for the waste disposal system. This all led to the ship losing power and water filling its generator room, so the generators were shut down and the ship was led adrift. A distress call was sent and answered by numerous South African helicopters and a Dutch container ship. Shockingly, the captain and many crew members were among the first to be airlifted to shore, leaving the entertainment staff to coordinate the rescue efforts and help passengers to safety. All 571 passengers and crew members were saved by the time the ship sank nose-first into the sea.

Cruise captain detained after ship collides with motor boat on Danube River, kills 2

BUDAPEST - Hungary has detained the captain of a Swiss-based cruise ship, Heidelberg, involved in a collision with a small motor boat on the Danube River  late on Saturday that killed two people, with five others still missing, police said on Monday.

The accident was reported on Saturday night after a 35-year-old man was found with a bleeding head wound near a main road by the river near Veroce, 55 km (34 miles) north of the capital Budapest.

The body of a man was recovered downstream south of Veroce, while a woman's body was found further downstream near a bridge on the northern outskirts of Budapest, where police also recovered the damaged motor boat.

Hungarian police said the cruise ship captain was a Czech national and that they had interviewed and detained him on suspicion of multiple offences, including failing to stop and provide help after an accident.

"Based on the suspicion of police, the captain did not alert his crew after the accident, did not follow provisions of the rescue protocol and took no action whatsoever to save the persons afflicted," police said in a statement.

Police have questioned 25 people as witnesses, including the cruise ship's crew, tourists on board and others.

A search continued on Monday for the five missing people, all of whom were in the motor boat, including an 18-year-old woman and a 39-year-old man.

On Sunday, a Reuters news team saw the ship moored in the northern Danube river town of Komarom, upstream from the site of the collision, with large scratches visible on the bow.

A group of Chinese tourists disembarked on Sunday afternoon. One of them told Reuters he had not been aware of any accident at the time.

A deadly crash on a Long Beach sunset cruise. Then, the fight to save survivors

Video taken aboard the Four Kings boat shows the mellow waters hours before the fatal crash.

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The summer sun had set, and it was dark on the waters of Alamitos Bay when 12 friends aboard the 48-foot Four Kings sportfishing boat arrived back at harbor after a day of cruising, eating and drinking around the Long Beach coast.

Then, the passengers — half of whom were on the control deck while half were in a room below — felt a massive jolt.

The people below were knocked down, thrown forward and dazed, but one man was able to gather himself and go up to the flybridge to survey the damage.

He emerged to a horrific scene. There was blood everywhere and bodies not moving splayed out on the ground.

And it was about to get worse. The boat had hit the jetty, was taking on water and was drifting back out to sea. So he acted.

That’s how one of the biggest maritime emergencies in years began in Long Beach’s harbor, a hot spot for pleasure boating. The July 3 crash injured nearly everyone on board and killed John Correa, a former UC Berkeley baseball player who worked in real estate. He also volunteered as a coach for Millikan High School in Long Beach, where he helped lead the team to a 1983 state championship in its division.

The incident is now under investigation by the Long Beach Fire Department’s Marine Safety Division, which has released few details other than to say speed was probably a factor . There have been no arrests made or charges.

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But how could the boat, piloted most of the evening by an experienced boater, have slammed into the jetty just outside the slip at such a high speed? Those waters are navigated by hundreds every day in a city where 4,000 pleasure boats are docked at marinas.

“Fatalities are extremely low frequency. I can’t remember the last time we had a fatality on a recreational boat,” said Gonzalo Medina, the marine safety chief of the Long Beach Fire Department.

The last fatal crash on the water was in 2021, Medina said, when a racer going more than 100 mph flipped his boat during the Long Beach Sprint Nationals.

Whatever caused the crash is still a mystery. But passengers on the boat described to The Times how the evening turned from a calm, pleasant cruise to a bloody nightmare that could have claimed even more lives if it weren’t for the quick thinking of a few people on board.

One of the owners of the boat, Kevin King, who was captaining the ship that night, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Times reached out to the other 10 survivors as well; three shared their recollections while the rest did not respond.

Attempts to reach Correa’s family, who have started a GoFundMe page for the Millikan baseball program in his honor, were also unsuccessful.

King, the owner of the Four Kings, knew the waters around Long Beach well, said the three people who were on the boat and spoke with The Times.

He is an experienced boater and knows his boat like “the back of his hand,” said Barry Vince, one of the passengers.

“He’s been out on that ocean, on that jetty thousands of times,” Vince said. “I had full confidence in him.”

Two weeks before he got on the Four Kings boat with his wife, Erin Earlywine, Vince nearly died. The ultramarathon runner was taking part in a race in the Pyrenees in Andorra when he fell and rolled down part of a mountain. He broke three ribs and dislocated his shoulder.

“I was so grateful to live through that,” Vince said. “Then to have this happen right after is trippy.”

Vince and Earlywine had no plans to be out late. Vince is sober, and Earlywine had an early cycling event in the morning.

“Kevin assured us we’d be home right when sun is going down,” said Earlywine.

But they weren’t.

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After leaving Alamitos Bay, the boat cruised past White Island, where the 12 friends were unable to get a mooring to sit and eat. King steered them on to Shoreline Village, then went out past the breakwater. Then they came back in and floated and ate and drank, according to the people who were on the boat.

“Sunset came. It was getting dark so we headed back,” Vince said.

At that point, the group of 12 split into two. One group of six remained in the upper level where the boat’s controls are. The other six hung out below in the interior room, which has no front-facing windows.

Down below, the group, which included Vince, was eating cookies, sitting around and chatting about everyone’s plans for the Fourth of July, Earlywine recalled.

“Then we hit,” she said. “I didn’t really realize what was going on.”

Vince turned to his wife and told her she was bleeding from her head.

Others recalled more clearly the moment of impact.

“It was just a horrific, massive impact. The sound was just something I’ve never really heard before,” said one member of the group, who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive event.

After the boat crashed it came to a stop, but the engines had not. They were roaring.

The man didn’t understand why the engines were still going. They had crashed. Shouldn’t someone upstairs be slowing down the engines?

“The first thing I questioned was, like, why isn’t the driver, why aren’t we backing down on the throttle?” he said. “I didn’t know what we hit — a boat, the pier — I didn’t know. ... I went outside and up top.”

What he found up above was a disturbing scene.

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All six people on the upper level were down, apparently knocked unconscious. The entire deck was covered in blood, he said. From up above, the man could tell that the boat had crashed into the jetty, an outcropping of rocks that extends from the shore into the ocean.

Before he could deal with the injuries, the man realized that there was an even more pressing issue. With the engines still on, the boat was drifting from the jetty and heading back into deep water. He quickly took control of the boat and reversed it back into the jetty so its swim deck was on the rocks, which would allow people to get off the boat.

“If I had been knocked out, the boat would have gone out in deeper water,” the man said.

Down below there was another issue.

“I’m standing and looking around and the room downstairs is filling up with water,” Earlywine said. “I’m like, ‘Oh my God, why is there so much water coming in?’”

To stop the boat — which had a massive tear in its hull — from drifting into the water and potentially sinking, the man who had steered it back into the jetty found a few ropes.

He used one to secure a corner of the boat to a large rock on the jetty. A second rope attached to the boat was held by an onlooker who’d been fishing on the jetty before the crash.

Stopping the engines and bringing the boat back onto the jetty “saved the day,” Vince said. “He saved lives on this boat. He went up to the flybridge where the other six were. He had wherewithal to reverse the boat back into the rocks. We would have sunk in deeper water.”

Vince and his wife called their daughter, Abbey Vince, a lifeguard in Los Angeles County. She was at dinner nearby when the crash occurred.

“‘We hit something,’” Abbey recalled her stepmother saying.

She called 911, alerted the Coast Guard, got in her car and drove to the jetty. She knew where it was because her father’s phone alerted her after the impact.

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On the boat, the man who steered the boat back onto the jetty was surveying the damage.

“It was just bad upstairs. There wasn’t any movement from most people up top,” he said. “They woke up after the people downstairs.”

There was a country song playing. It sounded eerie and discordant amid the frantic, somber mood on the boat, but he could not figure out how to turn it off.

Then he saw John Correa.

“John never woke up,” he said.

“I saw John. I checked his pulse. He was passed away,” Vince said.

Correa had broken his neck after being thrown into the control console of the boat, Vince said.

First responders began to arrive at the scene. One woman had her teeth knocked out by the crash. Vince initially thought the boat owner, King, was dead too. People were waking up, looking dazed and unsure of their surroundings.

“Their eyes were open, but they didn’t know what was going on,” Vince said.

As the boat sank lower and lower into the water, they were able to offload people from both areas. Finally, when the skybridge was at water level, first responders were able to retrieve Correa’s body.

Speculation and rumors swirled following the boat’s crash.

The three people who spoke with The Times sought to dispel the notion that Correa could have been piloting the boat. Correa did not know how to operate it and had spoken to people earlier about that, witnesses said.

All three people who spoke with The Times said that the owner of the boat, King, had been steering it earlier in the evening. But all were on the lower level when the boat hit the rocks, so none of them saw who was at the helm then.

“It’s not like he’s a rookie pleasure boater,” said the man who steered the boat back onto the jetty. “King spends a lot of time on the water. It’s something that we all are like, how did this happen?”

Times intern Sandra McDonald and Times staff writer Richard Winton contributed to this report.

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Fatal accident at Croatian ferry terminal claims lives of 3 crew

On Sunday afternoon, August 11th, a fatal accident occurred at the ferry terminal in Mali Losinj Island, Croatia .

The incident took place ~3:00 p.m. when the entry ramp of the Jadrolinija-operated ferryboat Lastovo fell, trapping crew members working onboard.

Local police confirmed that 3 sailors from the ship have tragically lost their lives, and one remains hospitalized with serious injuries.

Jadrolinija issued a statement expressing deep sorrow over the incident:

"With great sadness, we must announce that today in the port of Mali Losinj, an accident occurred in which, according to initial information, two sailors from Jadrolinija from the ship Lastovo lost their lives, while one was seriously injured. "The ship Lastovo operates the state ferry line Zadar (Gazenica) - Ist - Olib - Silba - Premuda - Mali Losinj and was docked in Mali Losinj at the time of the accident. "We express our sincere condolences to the families of the deceased sailors. Jadrolinija is deeply shaken by this unfortunate event"

The 1969-launched ship Lastovo (IMO 7010717) joined Jadrolinija in 1978. The Japan-built vessel primarily serves routes in the Split region. 

Authorities are conducting an investigation, led by the deputy county attorney from Rijeka , to determine the exact circumstances surrounding the incident.

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Texas family of 4 missing after boat capsizes in Alaska; Coast Guard suspends search

August 6, 2024 / 10:15 AM EDT / CBS/AP

The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended search efforts for four people who were missing after the boat they were on capsized Saturday near Homer in south-central Alaska.

The missing were identified by a relative as a family of four from Troy, Texas - Mary and David Maynard, and sons Colton, 11, and Brantley, 7, the Anchorage Daily News reported Monday. Christi Wells, who provided a statement on behalf of Mary Maynard's parents, said the family enjoyed spending time with friends and relatives, and traveling.

Wells said Mary Maynard, 37, was a traveling nurse and David Maynard, 42, stayed at home with the children and had a lawn care business.

A report came in Saturday evening that a 28-foot aluminum boat carrying eight people had begun taking on water, said Travis Magee, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson. The Coast Guard, which recently conducted search and rescue missions near Homer, notified other ships in the area of the situation, and a boat nearby rescued four people.

A search ensued and crews scoured the area but efforts were suspended Sunday evening.

Magee told The Associated Press he did not immediately have information on the people who were rescued. He also did not have additional information on the boat that sank or what may have led to the incident.

Stetson Chase, who said he is a family friend, posted a  statement  on Facebook Monday on behalf of Mary Maynard's mother, confirming family was still missing.

"Mary, her husband and 2 sons were lost at sea last night in Alaska after their vessel capsized," Shace wrote, adding: "I think I can vouch for many that they were a wonderful, caring and loving family that deserves to be brought home."

Cassandra Martin, a family friend from Texas, told CBS affiliate KWTX  that she's devastated by the news.

"(It's) hard to believe that this could even be real ... she and her husband and her boys are all really beloved members of our community," Martin told the station.

• United States Coast Guard
• Missing Persons

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NEWS... BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT

Cruise ship makes dramatic rescue to save migrants on stricken boat

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A British holidaymaker captured the moment a cruise ship came to the aid of an overcrowded boat taking migrants on a perilous journey across the Ionian Sea. 

The stricken vessel was adrift 112 nautical miles south-west of the Greek coastal town of Pylos when the Royal Caribbean liner’s crew diverted to answer the distress call. 

The captain made an emergency announcement, saying that all ships in the area had been requested to attend the sinking boat, as the liner altered course en-route to Santorini.  

The luxurious Odyssey of the Seas, which is 1,138ft long and has 16 decks, launched two smaller boats to bring the drifting vessel alongside and transfer 77 people onboard.  

The occupants included 36 men, seven women and 34 children. 

Kevin Gibbons, 41, an ex-pat from the UK who lives in Spain, watched the rescue unfold on Monday night.  

‘The crew did an amazing job, sending out two rescue boats to tow the overloaded sinking boat back to the cruise ship,’ he said.

‘Where you can see they were all transferred to the cruise ship awaiting the arrival of the coast guard and authorities to take over.  

‘I understand it’s international law to rescue any sinking ship or distress call at sea, I totally accept it’s the right thing to do, but surely the whole world, including the rich states need to do more to assist and deter these deathly attempts to reach Europe.’ 

Twenty-seven of the rescued were transferred to a Hellenic Coast Guard patrol boat and the remaining 50 onto the Panagia Thalassini passenger-launch before being disembarked at the Greek port of Kalamata.  

The liner had to reschedule a port stop in Santorini because of the diversion, with the anchoring taking place yesterday instead.

A Royal Caribbean spokesperson said: ‘On August 5, 2024, the ship encountered a small vessel adrift and in need of assistance. 

‘Alongside the Greek Coast Guard, the ship’s crew immediately launched a rescue operation and has returned to its sailing.’ 

A spokesperson for Greece’s Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Island Policy told Metro.co.uk: ‘Under the coordination of the Unified Search and Rescue Coordination Centre, 77 foreigners who were onboard a sailing vessel were located and rescued from the Royal Caribbean cruise ship in the sea area 112 nautical miles south-west of Pylos.  

‘Then the foreigners were transferred to the port of Kalamata.’ 

According to the Greek Coast Guard, the ‘foreigners’ said that they had launched from an unknown point on the Turkish coast near Bodrum destined for Italy.  

They are said to have stated that they paid people traffickers 8,000 euros each (£6,800) for their passage to Europe, taking them across a hazardous stretch of water.  

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The Greek authorities arrested two men and one woman, aged 48, 36 and 26 respectively, on immigration, people trafficking and exposure of life to danger charges.  

An investigation into their activities and possible links with wider organised crime networks is being carried out by the Port Authority of Kalamata and the Directorate of Security and Protection of Maritime Borders.

The perilous nature of the journeys undertaken by migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean has previously been highlighted by Metro.co.uk 

The Royal Navy recovered a dead body, plucked an underweight 12-day-old baby from an overcrowded ship and gave chase to a wooden boat packed with hundreds of people when it supported EU operations in the region in 2015, our investigation showed.  

According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the central Mediterranean route was the deadliest migration journey in the world last year as ‘desperate’ people tried to reach the safety of Europe.  

Nearly 2,500 people died or went missing as they attempted to cross from Algeria, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia to Italy and Malta, the IOM said. 

MORE : Biggest Channel rescue in three years saw 80 people saved – including children

MORE : British crews backed by drones rescued 500 people from Channel in one day

MORE : Dramatic pictures reveal Royal Navy’s role in Mediterranean rescues

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Cruise passenger dies after falling over balcony onto lower deck, spokesperson says

A passenger aboard a Virgin Voyages cruise ship died after falling over their balcony shortly after departure, a spokesperson said.

The ship, Valiant Lady, had left Miami on Sunday for Roatan, Honduras, when the incident occurred.

"On Sunday, shortly after departure there was a medical emergency involving one of our passengers," the cruise line company said in an emailed statement. "This passenger went over their balcony onto a lower deck, and despite receiving immediate medical attention, has passed away."

The passenger, who has not been identified, fell onto another person, Insider reported . The spokesperson for Virgin Voyages said in their statement that the second person was not seriously injured.

The spokesperson declined to release further details, saying it wants to protect the privacy of those involved.

The ship returned to Miami early Monday morning but has since resumed its voyage with slight changes to the itinerary.

Virgin Voyages said it was "deeply saddened" by what happened. "Our hearts and thoughts are with this person's loved ones," the statement said.

Minyvonne Burke is a senior breaking news reporter for NBC News.

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Search suspended after young brit falls off royal caribbean cruise ship near croatia.

Rescue crews suspended their search efforts Sunday for a young British man who fell off a Royal Caribbean cruise ship in the waters near Croatia early Friday morning.

The passenger, who has not been publicly identified, fell overboard into the Adriatic Sea while traveling on the cruise line’s Explorer of the Seas in the early morning hours, according to local Croatian news outlets.

The man plunged nearly 100 feet off the ship into waters near the uninhabited island of Jabuka, the local news station 24 SATA reported .

Royal Caribbean crew members who witnessed the man’s fall immediately tossed over a life ring but could not see him in the water, according to the station.

A massive multi-agency search — spearheaded by the National Center for Coordination of Search and Rescue at Sea — was launched from both sea and air and continued over the weekend.

The rescuers were hopeful that if the Brit survived the fall, he would be able to survive in the warmer waters of the Adriatic Sea during this time of year.

“Survival in these conditions is more than 12 hours, and the search lasts twice as long, at least 24 hours,” Radovan Linić, the coordinator of the search and rescue agency, told 24 SATA in Croatian.

But after three days of searching, the rescue teams were unable to locate the missing man and officially called off the search at around 2 p.m. Sunday, Croatian outlet HRT reported.

The seven-day Royal Caribbean cruise from Greece was headed to Zadar when the man tumbled into the sea.

Another passenger aboard the cruise ship said she was awakened by an emergency message blasting “Oscar Oscar Oscar off the port side. Man overboard” at around 3:40 a.m., she shared on X .

The ship canceled its docking in Zadar but continued on its path after hours of searching when the Croatian coast guard took over the immediate search, Nicole Bullock wrote.

The Post has reached out to Royal Caribbean for comment.

In May, a man reportedly jumped from Royal Caribbran’s Icon of the Seas, the world’s largest cruise ship, on the first night of his week-long voyage soon after it left Florida. His body was recovered, and he was pronounced dead.

A month before, a 20-year-old man believed to be drunk allegedly jumped off Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas as it sailed between Cuba and the Bahamas while on a vacation with his family.

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